It's early March, which means time for pruning! I just completed the pruning on all three vines vines and I'm really looking forward to this year. This is the first year I plan on leaving a full crop load on my 4th year Concord, and I'm expecting to leave a little fruit on the seedless Concord.
The first year Concord was really easy to prune. It made the top wire, but not by much. I cut off some of the smaller shoots from the top and left 5 buds near the top of the growing trunk. I will use 2 for one side of the vine, 2 for the other, and 1 for a renewal spur.
The seedless Concord was pretty easy to prune as well. There were a lot of laterals, which made for some decent cuttings. (I'll talk about cuttings a little later). I left 8 buds on the left cane, and 12 buds on the right cane, along with one bud at the 'fork' of the canes just for good measure. (For a total of 21 buds). I'll probably leave about one grape cluster alternating shoots because of how vigorous it was last season. I might be able to get a little crop out of it this second year (which is little bit of a risk considering most vines shouldn't crop until the third year).
The fourth year Concord was a pain to prune. There were shoots going everywhere from last seasons growth, along with the year before it. I didn't know how to set up cane pruning the previous years that well, so it was kind of a mess when I tried to basically spur prune it. This led to uneven growth, along with some overcropping. This year, I left one cane on the left side with 13 buds (I picked off some of the buds because they were too close together). The right cane extends from the growth from two years ago from the right side and reaches towards the middle of the plant. There were no canes extending from the trunk for a cane to the right, so I just selected this one. It has 10 buds, and extends about six inches past the trunk. I expect to leave all clusters this year for a full fruit load. I'm so excited.
I'll post some more about the seedless Concord cuttings I am propagating the next post, along with how I did it.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Pruning Plans
Budswell for me occurred last year on April 10, and March 30 for others around my area. Although it's better to prune very near your budswell date, I feel that pruning a little sooner, like March 1 will be fine. The very cold temperatures from winter will be mostly over by then, and I will be around anyway if a late frost hits my vines. So, there's no need to delay budbreak by any reasonable time from late pruning. Therefore, it's only about 2 weeks until pruning time.
I checked out the vines today, and they seem to be doing just fine, with minimal winter damage if any at all.
I found that the seedless concord that will be entering its second year has two great canes to allow growth. In fact, one of the canes looks large and vigorous enough to allow for a very small crop this year (maybe about one cluster for some of the shoots). The other cane is quite smaller so I don't think I will fruit much at all on that shoot. There are quite a number of lateral shoots coming from the trunk that will be cut off (about 8, one of which is about 6 feet long!). Three of these laterals may be thick enough to allow for some seedless concord propagation. I plan on showing my progress throughout the propagation. I will be able to get about 6 to 8 cuttings to try and root. Overall, I will have about 21 main buds to allow growth from this season, as well as a few from the trunk to provide canes for fruit next year.
The regular concord that will be entering its second year has not made as much growth as the seedless. It made the top wire, but did not have any laterals which is also a sign of less vigor. However, any vine that makes it to the top wire its first year is still far beyond expectations. I will leave 4 buds near the wire to produce canes this year. I will not leave any crop due to its low vigor, and wait until its third year for crop.
The concord that will be entering its fourth year and is quite large with many shoots coming out of the old canes. Picking the two new canes for this year was quite difficult as it was even hard to see which canes belonged to which part of the vine. I picked a waterspout shoot that was exposed to sunlight for one cane that has emerged from the trunk at trellis level. This cane has 8 regularly spaced buds, with 9 close spaced buds. I will pick off every other close spaced bud for a total of 13 buds. There are no other canes close to the trunk that I can select for fruit this year, so I picked a vigorous cane about 10 buds long that emerges from the far right side of last years growth and is bent and extends towards the trunk. This will allow a good filling of canopy space. These two canes will give me about 23 fruiting buds which is slightly under what I wanted, but I probably overcropped last year so I want to leave fewer buds anyway.
I checked out the vines today, and they seem to be doing just fine, with minimal winter damage if any at all.
I found that the seedless concord that will be entering its second year has two great canes to allow growth. In fact, one of the canes looks large and vigorous enough to allow for a very small crop this year (maybe about one cluster for some of the shoots). The other cane is quite smaller so I don't think I will fruit much at all on that shoot. There are quite a number of lateral shoots coming from the trunk that will be cut off (about 8, one of which is about 6 feet long!). Three of these laterals may be thick enough to allow for some seedless concord propagation. I plan on showing my progress throughout the propagation. I will be able to get about 6 to 8 cuttings to try and root. Overall, I will have about 21 main buds to allow growth from this season, as well as a few from the trunk to provide canes for fruit next year.
The regular concord that will be entering its second year has not made as much growth as the seedless. It made the top wire, but did not have any laterals which is also a sign of less vigor. However, any vine that makes it to the top wire its first year is still far beyond expectations. I will leave 4 buds near the wire to produce canes this year. I will not leave any crop due to its low vigor, and wait until its third year for crop.
The concord that will be entering its fourth year and is quite large with many shoots coming out of the old canes. Picking the two new canes for this year was quite difficult as it was even hard to see which canes belonged to which part of the vine. I picked a waterspout shoot that was exposed to sunlight for one cane that has emerged from the trunk at trellis level. This cane has 8 regularly spaced buds, with 9 close spaced buds. I will pick off every other close spaced bud for a total of 13 buds. There are no other canes close to the trunk that I can select for fruit this year, so I picked a vigorous cane about 10 buds long that emerges from the far right side of last years growth and is bent and extends towards the trunk. This will allow a good filling of canopy space. These two canes will give me about 23 fruiting buds which is slightly under what I wanted, but I probably overcropped last year so I want to leave fewer buds anyway.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
When Will Budbreak Occur?
Budbreak varies from year to year. Last year, budswell occurred around April 11th. For a friend on the forums, his started to swell on March 30. The budswell date also depends on the variety of grape. Budbreak occurs about a week after budswell, and full noticeable leaves less than a week after that. So, less than three months away hopefully!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Update
Well, I got a decent harvest this year for my first set of grapes! I got a huge bowl full of Concord grapes after harvest a week into September. It's been a while since harvest, but I'm pretty sure it was only a week into the month because the bees were getting to the grapes. I wanted to pick them before they were destroyed.
I also go bird netting to protect the grapes after verasion which seemed to keep the birds out.
The first year concord barely seemed to get to the top wire, while the seedless concord was very vigorous and I will probably be able to get a small harvest out of it this fall. :)
I didn't update during the time of harvest because I was so excited to finally get grapes after three years of waiting. I've also been busy with graduating and such.
I also go bird netting to protect the grapes after verasion which seemed to keep the birds out.
The first year concord barely seemed to get to the top wire, while the seedless concord was very vigorous and I will probably be able to get a small harvest out of it this fall. :)
I didn't update during the time of harvest because I was so excited to finally get grapes after three years of waiting. I've also been busy with graduating and such.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
First Veraison!
I went on vacation for over a week and came back to veraison! Half of the grapes are still green, while the other half are various shades of purple.
The above three photos are the grapes undergoing veraison. It will still be a while until they are ready to be harvested.
The above picture is my new first year Concord. The picture is misleading because the larger vine next to it is vigorously growing into it. All of the growth on the wire is the other older vine, while the skinny vine growing up the pole is the actual first year vine. It has acceptable growth this first year.
All of the leaves you can see in this one is the seedless concord. It grew tremendously this first year. I can only expect the roots are even larger! It has reached the top wire and is starting to grow to the right already quite a bit. Very impressive! There is still time this summer for the vines to grow, so I can expect quite a bit more growth on the new vines until this fall.
The above three photos are the grapes undergoing veraison. It will still be a while until they are ready to be harvested.
The above picture is my new first year Concord. The picture is misleading because the larger vine next to it is vigorously growing into it. All of the growth on the wire is the other older vine, while the skinny vine growing up the pole is the actual first year vine. It has acceptable growth this first year.
All of the leaves you can see in this one is the seedless concord. It grew tremendously this first year. I can only expect the roots are even larger! It has reached the top wire and is starting to grow to the right already quite a bit. Very impressive! There is still time this summer for the vines to grow, so I can expect quite a bit more growth on the new vines until this fall.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Fruit Finally Growing!
Well it took three long years of patience growing my first grapevine, and I'm finally getting fruit. It's well worth it, because there is a lot!
Above is a picture of just a small part of the third year grapevine. There are so many berry clusters! There would be another half more but I picked off a third of the clusters in the beginning of the season to ensure proper ripening.
A part of the other side of the vine. :)
Above is a picture of almost the whole grapevine. I had trouble getting the whole thing in the picture. The foliage didn't fill in like I wanted it to in the middle, but I'll make sure it does next year.
This is my concord grapevine that was planted this year. It reached the top wire and is amongst the leaves of the third year grapevine.
Finally, this is my seedless concord. There was a hail storm a few weeks ago that knocked the top few leaves off of the vine which slowed its reach to the top. It's a blessing in disguise because more strong shoots are growing out of the main trunk which means more root development. I've noticed the leaves on the seedless concord are much bigger than the regular concord. I don't know if it is just because of the extra shoot growth, but I'm sure I'll be able to compare the two next year.
Above is a picture of just a small part of the third year grapevine. There are so many berry clusters! There would be another half more but I picked off a third of the clusters in the beginning of the season to ensure proper ripening.
A part of the other side of the vine. :)
Above is a picture of almost the whole grapevine. I had trouble getting the whole thing in the picture. The foliage didn't fill in like I wanted it to in the middle, but I'll make sure it does next year.
This is my concord grapevine that was planted this year. It reached the top wire and is amongst the leaves of the third year grapevine.
Finally, this is my seedless concord. There was a hail storm a few weeks ago that knocked the top few leaves off of the vine which slowed its reach to the top. It's a blessing in disguise because more strong shoots are growing out of the main trunk which means more root development. I've noticed the leaves on the seedless concord are much bigger than the regular concord. I don't know if it is just because of the extra shoot growth, but I'm sure I'll be able to compare the two next year.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Flowering and Berry Set
About a week ago, the Concords began to flower. They kind of smelled like Febreeze if you'd believe that. After only about three days the flowers fell off and the berries started to enlarge. Right now they are only about 2 mm in diameter. It seems like some of the berries are enlarging faster than others.
A few days ago, I put up some trellis wire at the same height as the fully grown Concord for the other two vines. They are about a foot away from the top.
A few days ago, I put up some trellis wire at the same height as the fully grown Concord for the other two vines. They are about a foot away from the top.
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