On nice weather days, we are already out in the vineyard getting started with hand pruning. Some varieties start to bud out as soon as they are pruned so we avoid those varieties for now and start on varieties like Marquette and La Crescent that can be pruned but will continue to remain dormant. This is important because we are almost certain to have killing frost events until early May and if the vines bud out early, the leaf buds will be damaged or killed by the frost.
We have dismantled our V-Mech pruning system in order to sharpen the blades and on cold days are now putting it all back together. We have already gotten a good start on mechanical pruning and we will continue to mechanically prune as weather permits.
We are actively interviewing candidates for seasonal, full-time jobs in our vineyards. We hope to hire 2–3 full-time people now and will hire students to start work as soon as school is out and then work until they return to school.
