NOTE - Some vines are still recovering from the Arctic Climate Event that happened a few winters ago - winters of 2013-14 & 2014-15.  Those winters killed many of the trunks on the vines and they had to grow new shoots.  Some rows did not have as much renewal cane growth last year and have less crop. (Grape clusters grow from last years canes)  Most of the vines did fine and have a full crop this year.

Click here for a printable page that can be taken with you to the vineyard.

Jelly Grapes

Best Picking this week is
Niagara (white) and Concord (blue)

(click on the Grape Page Link for more variety info)

Click here for a printable page that can be taken with you to the vineyard.

Red Wine Grapes
We still have lots of Frontenac, Concord and some DeChaunac & Foch
(click on the Grape Page Link for more variety info)

Frontenac has been picked out.	Frontenac Grape Page	Rows 73 to 77
Dechaunac has been picked out.	DeChaunac Grape Page	Rows 51 to 54, 64 to 67
Concord is RIPE - good crop	Concord Grape Page	Rows 1, 2, 48 & 49
Foch IS RIPE NOW - still some left.	Foch Grape Page	Rows 42 to 46
Baco is mostly gone.	Baco Grape Page	Rows 55-56

 A Year in the Vineyard - Delaware - Part III  
On these pages you will view images of 3 grape vines from before pruning to harvest.

Delaware - a Pink grape for jelly, juice & white wine

Delaware in row 70 before pruning	Same vine after pruning in late March 2002

This delaware vine in row 70 had only one trunk so we pruned & trained a long cane from the base of the vine up and over the top wire to become a future trunk and top cordon.

This picture was taken May 6, 2001. It shows Delaware buds in the "bud swell" stage. The bud on top is normal and the lower one has frost damage from April.

This is a picture taken on May 31 after the freeze on May 21. It is the same area as the above picture (both those buds are dead now). We can see new growth coming from other areas of the vine.

Delaware vine in mid-June

Same vine in late June
Vine is exploding in growth!

The grapes are now in bloom. See the very tiny white petals.
Click here for a series of bloom pictures.

The Delaware vine in late July is very large and the berry cluster is almost full size.

September 1, The Delaware clusters are ripening up. This cluster will be ready to pick in mid September.

Freezing temperatures hit the Delaware vine in mid October & it quickly returns to just how it was before pruning.

Cranking up bird netting after the harvest
Installing Geneva Double Curtain cross arms late in the year.
	A hard frost in late fall has burned the leaves off of the vines and ended the season for this year. In a few days all the leaves will be gone.

 A Year in the Vineyard - Cayuga White - Part II  
On these pages you will view images of 3 grape vines from before pruning to harvest.

• DeChaunac Red - Part I
• Cayuga White - Part II
• Delaware Pink - Part III

Cayuga - a White Wine Grape

Want to make Cayuga White Wine? Click here for the Cayuga Grape Page....

Cayuga in row 34 before pruning	Same vine after pruning in late march 2002

This cayuga vine in row 34 does not have a mature top cordon like the dechaunac vine did, although it does have 2 trunks. (We use two trunks to help with winter damage - in case we lose one trunk, we still get a full crop on the other.) Two longer canes are trained across the top wire to develop the top cordon. A few extra 5 bud spurs were also retained.

This picture was taken May 6, 2002. It shows Cayuga buds in the "bud swell" stage. Cayuga starts its spring growth somewhat later than DeChaunac or Delaware and had very little frost damage.

This is a different cayuga vine down the row from our original. The first one was not typical of the row. See how there are not many new shoots and they come from anywhere on the vine rather than on the 5 bud spurs. This is caused by the freeze.
Picture taken on 6/3/02.

Cayuga vine in mid-June

Same vine in late June
Vine is exploding in growth!

The grapes are now in bloom. See the very tiny white petals.
Click here for a series of bloom pictures.

In late July this Cayuga vine and it's berry clusters are almost full size.

September 1, The Cayuga clusters are ripening up. This cluster will be ready to pick in mid September.

Freezing temperatures hit the Cayuga vine in mid October & it quickly returns to just how it was before pruning.

Cranking up bird netting after the harvest
Installing Geneva Double Curtain cross arms late in the year.
	A hard frost in late fall has burned the leaves off of the vines and ended the season for this year. In a few days all the leaves will be gone.

A Year in the Vineyard - Dechaunac - Part I 
On these pages you will view images of 3 grape vines from before pruning to harvest.

• DeChaunac Red - Part I
• Cayuga White - Part II
• Delaware Pink - Part III

DeChaunac Red
A Blue/Black Grape for Red or Rose Wine

Want to make DeChaunac Wine? Click here for the DeChaunac Grape Page....

DeChaunac in row 53 before pruning	Same vine after pruning in late march 2002

This dechaunac vine in row 53 is how I would like all of my vines to be. (2 trunks, a mature cordon on the top wire and spurs (I use 5 bud spurs) across the top cordon.) I use a system called "single wire cordon" pruning. There are many ways to prune and train vines but this is what works for me in a vineyard with over 20 different varieties of grapes.

I use many different things to tie the vines, twine works very good along with various plastice devices. In recent years I have used a lot of "Clip-It" ties. The top cordon has been "wraped" around the top wire (when it is still small). This keeps tying the vine to a minimun & it is sometimes called a "no tie" system (although there is still a lot of tieing involved).

These pictures were taken May 6, 2001. It shows DeChaunac buds in the "bud swell" stage. The bud on the left is normal and the right one has frost damage from last April.

This is DeChaunac on May 31 after a bad freeze on May 19/21.

This spring is very cold and late and even though the buds were delayed there was much damage. Most of the new shoots are supposed to be coming from the 5 bud spurs that we left on the vine. This year the majority of them are coming from the main trunk. Fortunately the DeChaunac variety is very fruitfull and I can already see small grape clusters on these vines.

See the flower cluster. This will bloom and become a bunch of grapes

DeChaunac vine in mid-June

Same vine in late June
Vine is exploding in growth!

The grapes are now in bloom. See the very tiny white petals.
Click here for a series of bloom pictures.

In late July this DeChaunac vine and the berry clusters (above & right pictures) are almost full size. The berries are even starting to change color slightly. DeChaunac berries tend to do this earlier than other varieties.

 

Freezing temperatures hit the DeChaunac vine in mid October
& it quickly returns to just how it was before pruning.

Cranking up bird netting after the harvest
Installing Geneva Double Curtain cross arms late in the year.
	A hard frost in late fall has burned the leaves off of the vines and ended the season for this year. In a few days all the leaves will be gone.