I am in nampa, Idaho, at about 2600' elevation. Its a terrific place to grow
grapes in some respects, less so in others. After 3 crops and 6 yrs of
growing (took 2 years to get planted) I have not yet sprayed, with
anything, and have had no molds, mildews fungus etc, and no insect damage
either except maybe some wasps. We have a very dry climate, and the daytime
temperature will get above 95 degrees in mid June. Night time temperatures
are generally under 70, and by the time the grapes are ripening, in the
50's. Our climate is quite similar to the Prosser Washington area, which is
becoming a very popular wine growing area, with something like 300 new
vinyards. We use drip irrigation, have a very fertile soil, use own rooted
plants, and plant vigor is pretty high.
The 4x5 spacing came about because I wanted to have lots of varieties and
also I spent some time in the Napa Valley looking at vineyards and saw some
new ones going in at even closer spacing (4x4). It worked out that in my 50'
x 150' area I could do 10 rows of 33 plants. So I have 1 of chardonnay, 2 of
cab Sauv, 1.5 of cab franc, 1.5 of merlot, 2 of pinot noir, 1 of pinot gris,
1 of gervurtz.

About the only problem has been frost damage, mostly in the fall, but some
in the spring as well. The hardest hit has been Cab sauv which mostly got
froze to the ground with a 13 degree night November 1, 2002. They are the
latest, and they had not gone completely dormant. Only a few of the 66
plants actually died, and i should have about 75% of a crop this year. This
year I will install an overhead sprinkling system governed by a thermostat
which will turn it on on cold nights during the critical periods when
dormancy is not complete and in the spring after bud break.
I saw some of the lyre systems in the Napa valley, and it does seem that the
new vinyards are going either close spacing or lyre. (Just my amateur
observation).
How do you prune to " one counting bud
spurs"? I don't know all the lingo of the trade yet!



"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
...
> Darwin Vander Stelt wrote:
>
> > My experience with the 2003 harvest has really brought home to me the
> > importance of limiting the production if you want quality wine. My hobby
> > vinyard had about 250 vines producing last year, I use close spacing, 4
x
> > 5, and I fed the birds at least half the grapes. I still made 120 gals
of
> > wine! Compared to the year before when I thinned much more agressively,
> > the wine is tasteless and watery. There are no off flavors, no evident
> > cellar problems, just plain old watery wine. I bought bird netting this
> > year and am really cutting the crop back to maybe half of what we had
last
> > year. It was
> > a lesson I'll never forget! You can read it in a book but it doesn't
> > really
> > make an impact like tasting a barrel of cab franc/merlot that tastes
like
> > its maybe 1/3 chardonnay with some water added! So my advice is plant
> > some extra, buy bird netting, and severely limit the yields.
>
> Darwin, where do you live? 2003 in the Mid Atlantic was a Horrible year
for
> grapes. 4 x 5 is fairly close spacing. Do you use divided canopy
> trellising? I switched from VSP to the Lyre and prune to one counting bud
> spurs. The vines are loving it.
>
>
>
>
> > "William Frazier" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >>
> >> kenny wrote "Thanks for the information I will set down and work out
how
> >> much I think I will really need I was a little aggressive with the
amount
> > of
> >> wine I need in a year probably 50 gallons will be more in the balll
park.
> >> that is with putting 1/2 up to age for an extended time."
> >>
> >> Kenny - The old suggestion of 1 gallon wine per vine is a good ballpark
> >> figure. But don't let that stop you from planting several hundred
vines
> > if
> >> you have the room and the interest. With lots of vines you can limit
the
> >> clusters of grapes per vine and increase the quality of your harvest.
> > Also,
> >> you will have bad weather some years and if you have lots of vines you
> >> may
> >> still have enough grapes for your wine. And, you may end up selling
part
> > of
> >> your harvest to offset the cost of chemicals, fertilizer, etc. I would
> >> leave 10 feet between rows...makes it much easier to drive the tractor
> >> through the vineyard to spray fungicide and insecticide. This farming
> >> you know.
> >>
> >> Bill Frazier
> >> Olathe, Kansas
> >>
> >>
>