The last grape variety of the 2023 harvest was Steuben, which is usually late to ripen. The work for the vineyard staff now switches to putting harvest and crush equipment away, getting the vineyards ready for winter and for next season.
We grew some grapes that we didn’t need and couldn’t sell. We will harvest and dump them. Then, we need to spray fungicide to prevent powdery mildew from forming in the vines before they lose their leaves after the first hard freeze. We have been replacing posts that broke during harvest and will finish tying-up the newly planted LaCrosse.
Then, we have maintenance to do on the harvester and the Hagie sprayer. We will also deep clean the harvester and put it away for the winter. The harvest bins need to be cleaned and put away.
Finally, while we definitely don’t want rain during harvest, the 1 inch + we received on September 18 was very welcome. The reason is that the vines are already setting buds for next year’s growth, and they need enough moisture to enable the vine roots to bring nutrients up from the ground. So, now we want rain at a rate of about one inch per week.
