The next variety that we will machine prune will be the Sabrevois growing at Tassel Ridge and Maple Woods vineyards. Three people do the machine pruning so two to three others will be cleaning out vines that have already been machine pruned. This week, we clean out the Edelweiss and then move to the Sabrevois.
At some point in the spring, it becomes warm enough that the sap rises from the roots and starts moving up the trunk of the vine. That is just now starting to happen in the Marquette vines. Within a few weeks, the buds will start to swell and then we’ll know for sure that spring is here. By mid-April, when we prune, we may get squirted in the face with sap from pruning wounds!
We’ve purchased a new sprayer to apply the annual lime-sulfur spray to the trunks of our vines. This is intended to kill any fungus spores that overwintered in the bark of the vines. It is an unpleasant, smelly (it smells like rotten eggs) job but it is essential to controlling fungus in the vineyard.
