Week Two (June 10 - 14th)

We spent quite a few hours positioning new shoots into the catch wires of a VSP (vertical shoot positioning) trellising system. This system is one of the most productive and user friendly systems, and therefore is used in many vineyards. The marquette shoots (below) are a deep red and growing fast. We also thinned out shoots along the cordons so that they roughly were spaced a fist's lengths apart. We reduced the number of shoots per spur (retained last year's growth) down to three (and even two if it was a smaller/less healthy vine). We also cut shoots off if they were facing the wrong direction or downwards. We did this because these would either compete for sunlight with the shoots that are easier to deal with or break in the wind. When shoots do break off the trunk risks being infected by various pathogens. While walking through the vineyards you can tell which vines are healthy (haven't been damaged) based on shoot vigor and whether or not the cordon has initiated the production of areal roots.

The immaculate Marquette on VSP. 

For the Frontenac yearlings we further thinned shoots and even fruit clusters. We retained two clusters on vigorous shoots and one on stunted shoots. By thinning  clusters we are allowing more nutrients to go towards the development of vegetative and cork cambium growth. This "bulking up" of the vine will increase its winter hardiness, which is necessary in MN due to our cold winters and fluctuating extremes. Many vineyards around MN experienced damage from last years winter since there was so little snow cover. That allowed the frost to permeate 4 or 5 feet deep, damaging less hardy roots. John said that these problemsa are mostly due to novice growers trying to maximize their fruit yields/revenue instead of paying attention to the needs of the plant. As John always reminds us, "See the vine, be the vine." This is a must in order to make quick, correct pruining decisions.

Black rot is an inconvenient problem for grape growers. If not prevented with an increase in canopy airflow, or treated with fungicides, the fungus will consume both the leaves and the fruit. This can be devastating, but here at the HRC we are need to determine the plants susceptibility/resistance to invading pathogens.  

We have had to repair a few trellis wires that have broken from routine tightening and from the vines swaying in the wind. This happens fairly regularly, and lucky for me Matt is now a wire repair expert. John said that if a person were to do build a trellis system right, they would have all metal posts instead of 8" treated timber. Metal posts are superior than wood since will last forever and they keep the wires taught much better than wooden posts. Posts slacken the wires due to seasonal changes.

We apply a weed killer named Surflan to the soil around all of our vines. This needs to be sprayed right before a rain so that the chemicals can soak and stay in the ground. Generally one would want a light quarter of an inch rainfall, but we were lucky to get 8x that.

One Wednesday Patrick from Four Daughters Winery and Vineyard near Rochester ventured up to the HRC and helped us. Before we had spent an hour tying vines a storm rolled through, forcing us to retreat to the break room. (Apparently its dangerous to be around a grid of wires in an electrical storm. John and Patrick had heard of trellis systems being stuck and all of the vines on them dying). Waiting in the break room for the storm cell to pass quickly turned into us drinking in the winery. We had the opportunity to sample Four Daughters' Edelweiss and Marquette, as well as four wines from research vines that were grown in the vineyard (like the wine in the carboys below). Lucky for us the Arboretum had a potluck for Lauren's going-away party, so we were all able to get our fill. After the potlucki everyone else besides the grape crew went home, but we continued and finished all but one acre. We finished this last acre on Thursday, and are now done with tying for the time being.

John, Patrick and Nick (the wine man at the HRC) sampling wine in the winery.

I was traded to the apple crew on Friday. I was a little bummed at first since I was just suckering around saplings, but I guess that's all Raina and Matt were doing with the grape crew as well. I learned how to prune apple saplings and spent the afternoon cleaning up the bottom foot, saving the secondary buds. All the apple trees stem from tissue slicings that are inserted into a cut in a bud. They do this with two buds in case one does take.

Guus (from Holland) and I had the lovely opportunity to crawl on our hands and knees for 5 hrs. We were pulling out  "sucker" shoots that emerge from the root system under the apple trees. Notice what crosses we're working with!