For this vineyard update we are rushing along trying to bring the vineyards to some sort of balance right now. Currently we are still recovering from the frost/freeze event on May 18th and 19th. Most of these videos and post are related to that as that has pretty much set the tone for the vines this season.
A lot of the work we are doing now is in response to dealing with a regrowth and re-set of fruit on the vines, not so much managing a normal crop, if there is such a thing. One thing will be interesting to see is if any of this fruit has enough growing season left to produce a quality product. Another issue is while a great deal these plants were flowering we had just a general rain and we are not sure how much pollination was successful.
We are seeing huge rapid regrowth which we think is a result of a new bacterial agent low input fertilizer product we are trying this year. Another fruit grower has used it on his apple trees with great success. It basically uses soil bacteria to break down nutrients in the soil and make them more avaliable to the plant.
This allows us to better balance what the plant wants at the same time using fewer inputs. It is also supposed to improve the sugar content of the plant which in turn gives you more bricks in the fruit and hopefully better winter hardiness. We hope so as all this growth could be a recipie for disaster going into the winter.
Reisling Vineyard update
LaCrescent French American vines about 5 weeks after killing freeze/frost.