Category: Vineyard 2012

It isn’t really necessary to put in all the trellising at this early stage, and it could wait until after the vines are a year old before they need to be trained to any wires, but I just want to get everything set up.

There are so many different types of trellising and training methods that I’m not really sure which method is best suited for the varieties I am going to grow, but I’m going to go for what seems to be a fairly standard approach which is to have one main wire about 2ft off the ground and then pairs of wires at about 1ft intervals the rest of the way up the posts to guide the vines as they grow upwards.

This would suit either cane replacement or cordon spur training systems, and I don’t need to decide on which of these to use just yet.  I may try both and see which works best.  Or I may stumble over some information that says Orion or Phoenix are suited to a particular method.

I have put in some eyebolts to hold the main wire that will support the vines, and added three pairs of wires held in place with small wire staples.

Having watched the sun move across the sky earlier in the year I realised that there is a particular tree on the south side of the vineyard that casts a shadow over much of the vineyard for a large part of the day.  This has been bugging me for a while, so after checking that the next door neighbour was ok with it, I decided there was nothing else but to get rid of it.

The vines arrived this morning – three Phoenix and three Solaris.  It’s actually bad timing as I’m going on holiday for a week tomorrow so I don’t have time to plant them out.  I have soaked the roots in water for a couple of hours and put them in a pot filled with compost.  They should be alright until I get back…I hope!

Well, that’s it, the vines are in the ground.  All I need to do now is wait for the warmer weather to arrive and watch them grow.  The first year is all about getting them established, and developing a good root system.  I will let one shoot on each vine grow up, removing any side growth, and if they reach 6ft and have good thick stems (at least as thick as a pencil) then I can start to train them.  If not then they will get cut back to two or three buds to try again in the second year.

There was quite a hard frost last night which took me by surprise.  The buds have burst already on the vines due to the last few weeks of really warm weather, and this is the most critical time for them.  The young growth is very sensitive to frost damage, so I should be keeping an eye on the weather.

Large vineyards set fires between rows during cold nights after the buds have burst, but this isn’t very practical for me.  I have also read that spraying the vines with water during the evening when frost is forecast can help.  Another way is to cover them in fleece material to protect them.

I have decided to try putting some old sports socks into use.  They fit perfectly!

 

 

I am a bit worried about two out of six of the vines at the moment as the buds have turned black and stopped growing ever since the frost at the beginning of April.  I’m still using my sock method but it is a bit tricky to put them on and off the vines without damaging the young shoots.

I am also very annoyed with myself as last week I managed to snap the main shoot off one of the vines while cutting the grass. So I am currently down to three healthy vines.

I have done a little research and discovered shrub shelters.  These are the things you see in their thousands along roadside verges to protect young trees from rabbits.  They also act as mini greenhouses so I’m hoping that putting these over each of the vines will protect them from frost, stop me from doing any more damage, and provide them with a little extra warmth to give them a bit of a boost.

Over a period of about six months, the posts have slowly been bending towards each other due to the tension in the wires.  As the vines grow and get trained on to the lower wire adding a reasonable amount of weight, this is only going to get worse.  I don’t have any space to put in tensioned wires that I can anchor to the ground, so I have put in some bracing posts on the inside.

After the disappointment of finding out that there would be no Orion vines available this year I have decided to squeeze in another row and get some more vines on order.  This extra row is a little too close to a magnolia tree that is growing in the garden, but it should still get enough sun.

I have looked everywhere I can think of and cannot find anywhere that will sell me just three grafted Orion vines. Maybe I will take back what I said before about English red wine and get some Regent or Rondo vines. I’ll think about it.

In the meantime I have dug over a fresh strip of ground for the third row and put in the posts and trellising.The vines are growing well, although it looks like they won’t have grown enough that I can train them onto the main wire after this season.  I will most probably have to prune them right back this winter to two or three buds and give them another year to grow a really sturdy main stem.