Pruning Season

We were out in the vineyard the last weekend of March to prune vines and cleanup the vineyard. The first thing we did was remove the dirt we mounded up around some of the vines last fall. If our observations are correct, this aided the vines tremendously in surviving the past winter. Of course, 12-18 inches of snow did not hurt either!    While pruning, we were happy to note that all of the Frontenacs came through the winter just fine. The cuttings were green - many of them all the way to their tips. Of course, the Valiants are in great shape too. It is nice peace of mind to have the Valiants - if we ever have a winter that injures them it might be time to move to a warmer climate!

While pruning, we were happy to note that all of the came through the winter just fine. The cuttings were green - many of them all the way to their tips. Of course, the are in great shape too. It is nice peace of mind to have the Valiants - if we ever have a winter that injures them it might be time to move to a warmer climate!We did not have any pruning to do with the Prairie Stars as we let them grow as much as they would last season while recovering from the winter of 2002/03. Some of these vines barely pushed up shoots from their bases by July 2003. We hope they continue their recovery this season - look for further updates in future editions of the newsletter.

Wild Vines
During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the pictures section of our site.  

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.   

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.   Vineyard Status
Valiant - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year.

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year.Prairie Star - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season.

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season.Frontenac - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03.

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season. - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03.Sabrevois - we have decided to scale back our planting of Sabrevois from 6 to 3 vines. Two of the six vines we planted last spring did not take. So our thought is to keep the best three which makes room for the Foch and other experimental vines we will be planting this season.

During excursions in the neighborhood we often notice many wild grape and raspberry plants. It’s fun to find the fruit before the birds get to it. On one particular outing last summer we noticed grape leaves dangling down over our heads from a large oak tree. We followed the canes to their source and found that at its base, the vine was about 4″ in diameter and probably hundreds of feet long on overal length! It was quite an amazing find. We plan to take a camera with us next time and will publish the pictures on the website. Check them out in the section of our site.    - These vines are the most mature that we have. They have survived both of their first two winters with flying colors. We should harvest a small amount of fruit from them this year. - These vines are entering their second year of recover after barely surviving their first winter. We hope to see them continue their recovery this season. - The Frontenacs appear to have survived this past winter just fine. Like the Prairie Stars these vines spent most of last season recovering from being killed to the ground in the winter of 2002/03. - we have decided to scale back our planting of Sabrevois from 6 to 3 vines. Two of the six vines we planted last spring did not take. So our thought is to keep the best three which makes room for the Foch and other experimental vines we will be planting this season.The rest of the vineyard is undergoing major change this season. We are removing our St. Pepin, Bluebell and King of the North vines and will be planting 9 Marechal Foch vines, 6 experimental table grape vines and 6 experimental red wine grape vines. See the Vineyard Info section of our website for more details.

Thanks!
Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter! We don’t pretend to be experts at growing grapes in cold climates, but rather we hope you find the newsletter an informative and entertaining source of information. If you do, feel free to forward the e-mail to others that may be interested. If you have suggestions for future topics or general comments/suggestions, feel free to send us a note using our Contact Us page.

MDT & Associates now has a website. They are a supplier of vineyard supplies and equipment. Their website is located at http://www.mdtgrow.com.

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