Category Archives: Wine Growing

Rain….and 2011 Status

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P1040792Well, 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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FlamingSince 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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P1040793The 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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rainbowGrow 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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P1040793When 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.

Flaming flaming tool
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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vine 7 8 11We 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.

Winter comes fast

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P1030966We just had our first real rain of the year……3” this weekend. This will mark the end of the harvest season in Sonoma County.

As you can see from the picture our little vines did well this year. Now they are turning colors and will lose all of their leaves in a few weeks.

Two big projects are left……1) Have to rototill the vineyard to get rid of the nasty flat weeds and replace them with a cover crop. We have to let the ground dry a few days and then start. 2) We have to install a drain to collect all of the water from the driveways so we don’t get erosion.

Never time off in the vineyard!!!

New Sauvignon blanc Vineyard

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sb vineyardJoey is not a big fan of reds, so she wanted her own little vineyard with enough grapes for a few cases of white wine per year. So……instead of putting in useless but pretty plants in the front of the house we are about ready to plant 15-20 Sauvignon blanc vines. They should be ready to harvest in 2012. Since Sauvignon blanc is more vigorous, we should get about 10-15 pounds per plant instead of 3, so this should give her enough to drink for the year. We have decided to plant three clones……Clone 1 which is what New Zealand has…..Clone Musque which is what Merry Edwards Winery uses……and finally Clone 376 which is what Rochioli Winery uses. This blend should give us a balanced and not to citrusy wine, or so we hope.

Summer Comes in September

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sep sunriseSummer in most of the US this year has been very hot. In case you missed it, the west coast has been unusually cool….the coldest in 30 years I have been told.

Well, this morning I was up early and took a picture of the sun coming up over the vineyard. How pretty! In addition, you can see our fall veggies growing in our new raised beds. The weather has been perfect for getting our kale, radishes, brocolli, chard and lettuce to grow. Hope to eat out of this garden for most of the fall/winter.