Bird Netting - Essential Task

As we have moved to veriasion, here in Missouri our red grapes must be bird netted. A fortunate thing is that I have a commercial on-line store that sells bird netting, and other landscape products. The bulk of my sales is bird netting.

Over the years I have had my losses from birds eating my grapes. On year, the birds wiped out about 75% of my grapes, other years, I had very little left. In 2007, I figured out the iron-clad method of bird netting. That is using S hooks to secure the trunks and poles in the vineyard. Here is a link to my website that actually has a step by step tutorial :

http://www.amigoni.com/netting_process_in_vineyards.pdf



Unfortunately we have to net our vineyards, however, since we will be hanging the red grapes until the first or second week in October, we need a secure way of protecting our investment.

See ya.

Out of the Rot woods

In Missouri and much of the Midwest, grape growers have had the most rot pressure in the last 10 years. We have had rain every week and the challege of black rot on the grapes has been intense. Normally, we spray 7 days before bloom and 7 days after bloom. Studies have shown that this period is very important to eliminate rot pressure for the rest of the season. Thereafter, we spray on a two week interval. This year we have had to up the schedule to every 1.5 weeks. This interval plays havoc on my schedule since I generally tend the grapes on the weekends. I have had to go to the vineyard during the week and spray. In spite of all the spraying, we still got a little black rot! I am estimating a 2%-3% loss of crop due to black rot. Not a lot but still a little loss.

The good thing right now is that we are starting to accumulate sugars in the grapes. Grapes fend off black rot naturally once the grapes get to 6-8 brix. We are right there. So we are out of the rot woods.

Wired Management

We use three pairs of wires (catch wires)for our Vertical Shoot Positioning trellis. Our fruiting wire is at 28" , the first pair is above this wire at 12" and next two pairs are again spaced at 12" above the others. These wires are taken down at the beginning season. As the growth of the vines grows, once the vines are 4" above the catch wire position, then we begin putting the wires up. We are currently at the growth of putting the first two wires up.

Moveable catch wires eliminate the labor of tucking the vines in the catch wire system. Additionally, the vines tendrals would have to be broken in order to tuck the vines.

We recommend the VSP system especially for vinifera growing. It is the best system and we are darn happy to have it.

Planting Cab Franc 214 ENTAV INRA

On Saturday morning my vineyard assistant Alonzo and I planted 200 Cabernet Franc 214 Clone on 101-14 rootstock. Here is a picture of the tag on the bundles of 25. The day was not particularly a good day. It rained about 1 inch and we planted in the morning while it was still raining. These Cab Franc vines were taking the place of Chardonnay which was ripped out the week before. I used to use 3309 rootstock on all my varieties but a few years ago I switched to 101-14. This rootstock is less vigorous and has a better hardening in the fall therefore increasing the cold hardiness of the plants.

Replacing some Chardonnay

We call it Amigoni Vineyards with an "s" because really we manage 3 distinct areas of our farm with 3 different vineyards. The vineyard farthest to the east is 1.5 acres and called Limestone Hill from all the limestone that is around the vineyard. The middle section is called Stealth Ridge after the constant Stealth Bombers that were overhead during the preparation and planting. It is about 1 acre in size. The newest section is on the west end and called To Kati after my daughter. Well, originally I planted about 200 plants of Chardonnay in the midst of Stealth Ridge. Last season the lower airflow and higher moisture of this area was not very good for the Chardonnay. Instead, I like the way Cabernet Franc performs in this area. So we are in the process of ripping out the 200 or so plants of Chard and replacing with Clone 214 ENTAV INRA of Cabernet Franc purchased from SunRidge Nurseries. Additionally, we have a few replacements of the Malbec that is approaching third leaf in a few days. The 595 Clone is labelled COT, the other name for Malbec. I wonder if any of you know how to pronounce this, is it like a Coat you wear or is it like a Cot that you sleep on?? Help.

Pruning Finished and Ready for Bud Break

I normally start pruning the end of February and continue to the end of March. With the help of a pruning crew, we finished pruning the middle of March. Since I try to retain two or three trunks, I have two fruiting wires here in Missouri. Last year I pruned and left if possible four canes on the two wires. After a very cool year, I had difficulty ripening all the reds. Therefore, I decided that I would go with a bud count of about 24. I instructed and demonstrated to my pruning crew that we would go with 3 canes, and use your hand stretched out and count two hands per cane. This was about 8 buds. So with three canes we were hitting about 24 buds. 24 buds will make 24 shoots and with two clusters per shoot, we would have 48 clusters. Each weigh about 1/4 lb or 4 oz. Therefore, 48 and .25 = 12lbs. However, not all buds develop, so I figure only 80% of this 12 or 9lbs. per plant.

Harvest is over

The harvest is over now. We pulled in 11 tons of vinifera this year. The harvest lasted about 6 weeks. We have about 10 barrels of red and 8 barrels of white wine from our estate vineyards. The long hang time this year will really make a complex wine and we will keep you updated as it matures in the barrel.