Author Archives: Doug Williams

Bud Break and European Grapevine Moths

Our first bud break happened around March 22nd…….could not tell the exact day as it rained most of the week. I found it on the 24th. I’m not exactly sure what is the official time…the first or 50% of the vineyard….but I’m recording this one! Most of the rest of the vines are still getting close, but no green showing yet. The weather forecast calls for sunshine next week so I expect all of them to spring to life in the next few days.

Well, I guess we are an official vineyard as far as the California Department of Food and Agriculture is concerned. They put a European Grapevine Moth collection trap in the vineyard. Sure hope we don’t get them. Many times they are spread by people or machinery, so since I’m doing most of the work, the chance that we have them should be small.

Tree Trimming

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One of the challenges at our site is the oak trees on the south and east side of the vineyard. They shade the vines…and as everyone knows you need good sun for healthy plants. So, we decided to do a second pass at thinning our oak trees. Some came out good and some perhaps got a little to “thin”. 3 Men 8 hours for tree thining…..FYI….I pulled weeds for 2 hours and mowed for 2 hours on 3/9, more fun.

Anyway, we are waiting for bud break….anytime now!!! Below is a before and after picture.

Bud Break Contest

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Bud break is a most exciting time of year in Wine Country. It is the time the vines come to life and the season begins. In 2010 we planted after bud break……so no bench mark. Normally it comes around the middle of March, and then everyone hopes we don’t get a hard frost.

So, we had a few visitors this last year who picked out vines. I’ll put their names and pictures on them later in the year, but for now they are marked with tags, and we can see whose vine starts growing soonest. (also will see if they read the blog). So we have 3 vines in the running…..Bob and Lisa Wise (I only have one marked), Lynn Smith and Don Smith. The pictures are in that order from left to right. Lets also hope I did not burn them when I flamed the weeds twice in February. It is hard to see but they are all “swelling” so all looks good so far.

Wall, Gophers and Vegan Fertilizer

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Yes….more work on the vineyard.

Feb 26 2.5 hours flaming
Feb 24 .75 weed whacking, 2.5 hours mowing

Some folks ask…..so is this all you do? Well, not quite. Since it is almost the spring, I have gotten out golfing 3 times, spread a little bark, built a retaining wall, done our taxes, started trapping for gophers, working out, etc…..you get the picture. In addition, I did learn that when you put pavers on the ground you need to put weed cloth down otherwise the sand will get washed away (see below)

Last but not least. I have been looking for Vegan fertilizer for the vineyard to “Juice” the plants. They do make it but it is 2.5x as expensive and not as good.

Rain….and 2011 Status

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Well, 2011 has been a very good year so far for the vineyard. For the first 6 weeks of the year we have seen snow storms in most of the country and here in Sebastopol is has been mostly warm and dry (rains are back this week). And as they say in the farming business……”Make hay while the sun shines”. So if you have read any of the other posts….I have been getting the vineyard in shape for the year. Here is the summary of what I have done this year.

Weed whacking 11 hours
Mowing 4 hours
Flaming 5 hours
Removing grow tubes 12 hours (8 of which I hired)
Hand weeding 69 hours (40 of which I hired)
Collecting weeds 13 hours (4 of which I hired)
Pruning 14 hours (all hired)

I didn’t count going to the dump as that is fun!!!…….so 62 hours for me and 66 I hired. About right….I want to do 30-50% of the work.

So you ask….what is next?

– Have to keep the vineyard in good shape by flaming/weeding and mowing.
– Replace vines that did not grow last year or that the gophers ate
– Plant Joey’s Sauvignon blanc vineyard in the front
– In March we start “Juicing” the vines….otherwise known as fertilizing
– Tying the vines up as they grow in April thru August
– Gohper trapping
– Install fruiting and canopy wires

Some pics below of the rows after flaming and yesterday with the rain.

Flaming Weeds

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Since Turtle Vines is striving very hard to be organic…..and I have mentioned that weeding is the most difficult issue the first two years…..we are now flaming our weeds! Just started today and I’m a little afraid that I might fry the little vines. So I’m going very fast and will see how it goes. Won’t really know until bud breaks in about 6 weeks whether I hurt them or not. Cross your fingers.

By the way, the reason behind flaming is to get the moisture out of the weeds without burning them. If they burn, then the roots will not die…..so you have to make sure they just look wilted.

Pruning and Weeding

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The second year of the vineyard is still all about weeding and establishing the vines in the soil to be healthy. So, yesterday we pruned all of the vines back to where they started last spring when we planted them. I just hope that the root system is well established and will provide a base for the coming year. The hope is that this year they will grow to about 6’ tall.

For all those of you wondering if we will have grapes this year…..yes and no. The plants will put out grapes but I’m supposed to cut them all of so the plant will continue its vegetative growth. So sad!!!

Lastly, an update on the weeds. I put some pictures in for your view. Again my process is going to be: pull out the big weeds, remove the weeds from the field by wheel barrow, weed whack the rows, mow, flame the vine rows……and repeat all year long. What fun.

Grow Tubes

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Grow tubes for vines are a very interesting proposition…..
– Do you need them or not? grow tubes help prevent frost damage, help the plants grow due to their color and protect from rabbits and deer…..but they are a pain when you need to prune/tie.
– What are you going to do for weed control? If you are going to spray with Round-Up you need grow tubes the first few years so you don’t kill the vines. Also, they protect the plants from weed whacking.
– New or used? New grow tubes cost anywhere between $0.75 and $1.25 depending on the type and volume. Used grow tubes $0.20 to $0.25 but they won’t last as long. As you can see from the picture below I probably lost around 10% this year due to degradation…..the sun is bad for them and they probably can be used 5-10x before they crumble and break. In my case, I had a very nice vineyard manager loan me 1200 tubes which I’m returning on Tuesday….thanks Klopp Vineyards !!! The rest of mine I will try and sell to someone else this year.

Oh, one funny thing…..I have a new vineyard manger this year who showed up and said it was time for me to put the grow tubes back on…….NOT going to happen…..don’t have rabbits or deer, no round-up and I’m now good at weed whacking and will be easier to tie up the vines without them. As for the frost…..will see in March and April if this was a good decision.

These I’m trying to sell and the ones in the field will go to the dump.

Weeds and More Weeds

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When you have a vineyard, everyone always says how romantic! Well, if you don’t work year round you pay for it later. In the fall/early winter we finished the back landscaping, took a trip to Forks, WA and had company for Christmas. So……didn’t get to weeding except for 3 days…..about 5 hours worth. After an unexpected trip, I’m back at it again. I hope that if I can get it under control it will be a lot better this year than last year.

Above are before and after photo’s of just the weeding.

After weeding real vineyard work begins. I get to remove the grow tubes and prune to 2 buds!!! Then all spring/summer tie the vines.

Here is my strategy:

1. Hand weed all of the big weeds that are in the vine rows
2. Weed whack what is left in the vine rows
3. Mow
4. Flame in the vine rows
5. Repeat #3 and #4

My guess is it will take me about 45 hours to weed the vineyard and about 8 hours to weed whack and another 8 hours to flame and 2 hours to mow. The flaming and mowing will probably be done at least 6 times in 2011.

Status so far for weeding:
2010 5 hours
2011
1/10 1.5
1/11 2.0
1/12 3.0 1 hour weed whacking I’m 25% done with weeding
1/14 3.25
1/17 1.0
1/18 1.0 1.5 hours mowing
1/19 1.75 1 hour mowing, .75 hour weed whacking
1/24 6.0 +24 hours of “Graton Labor” help
1/25 4.0 +16 hours “Graton Labor” help, 2 hours (+8) of grow tube removal
1/26 0.0 4 hours of grow tube removal

Weeding 28.5 hours weeding + 40 hours “Graton Labor” = 68.5 hours
Now weed whacking and flaming to keep it looking good!!!
1/27 2 hours collecting bad grow tubes, 2 hours collecting weeds from row
1/28 1 hour collecting weeds from rows, 4.5 hours weed whacking
1/29 1 hour collecting weeds from rows
1/30
1/31 4.5 hours weed whacking
2/7 1.5 hours collecting weeds, 1 hour flaming
2/8 1.5 hours collecting weeds, .75 hours flaming
2/9 .75 hours flaming, .4 hours mowing
2/10 1.5 hours flaming, .3 hours mowing
2/12 1 hours flaming, 1.5 hour mowing, 5 hours collecting weeds

Weeds, Cover Crop and Erosion

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We had a late summer in Sebastopol….most folks around the country called it October…..so I didn’t get to my winter chores until the last week as we were enjoying the weather since it was so cold here this summer.

Until we came to Wine Country and planted “Turtle Vines” we did what everyone else does, clean the gutters, patch the roof, fix the furnace….that kind of thing.

Well, as soon as you are a farmer, you have to get ready for winter. (and always talk about the weather) For us that means getting the vineyard ready for winter. Last year we planted clover as a cover crop but it didn’t work well enough to keep the weeds away. We had a case of nasty flat weeds that covered the entire vineyard by the end of the summer. As you can see above, I rented a very large roto-tiller and spent 2 full days tilling our 2 miles of vine rows. Just image walking and turning with a 400 pound machine for 5 miles. That would be hard enough, but with the weeds, every 30 vines I had to go under the tiller and clean out the tines as they were tangled. That was a good workout for my lats. So a 6-8 hour job turned into 14 hours. Our new strategy for the end of 2010 and early 2011 is to out-compete the weeds. I am going to put 100 pounds of organic seed that will help the soil and hopefully keep the weeds away. Stay tuned for pictures.

If you remember last year, we had a little issue with erosion due to the fact that the soil was bare and vineyard drains were not in place. We put some in place last year, and now this year we have all of the house downspouts connected to a drain that ends up in the neighbors stream. In addition we enhanced the drain for the driveways. I’m hoping this will eliminate our erosion issue.

Now if I could just get the roof fixed and the paver projects done !!!

PS Raining today and so far the roof is not leaking. Will have to wait for a downpour to make sure.