Niagara harvest

Seeing that the birds were going to have their way, we decided to go ahead with the harvest.  The reading on the refractometer was only 12 for the whole combined juice, which is way lower than I would like to see but it was harvest or lose them.  Still, it was the best harvest we have had, in spite of losing all of one vine to the birds. 

The grapes were gorgeous--large, heavy clusters.  By taste, I would have thought they were much sweeter than the instrument indicated.  I think they will make a good wine.  The low incidence of diseased grapes really made a difference.  I just wish the bird netting, which wasn't cheap, worked better.  I need to research a way to make it work more effectively.

We use this juice steamer to extract the juice on our green grapes and when we make juice from the concords.  It is a great instrument.  It delivers a clear, pure juice and really does a great job getting as much juice as possible from the grapes.  Although it adds some moisture to the end product, it still makes a very rich-bodied juice.

It holds enough grapes to produce about 3 quarts or better, depending on the quality of the grapes.  From the Niagaras, I will take 8 quarts to make 3 gallons and we will still have a couple gallons to make a white grape juice.

Norton--Cynthiana--Summer Grape

Call it what you will, it can make a very good wine, probably the best native American wine grape.  We're at the upper end of the area in which Nortons apparently can be grown, so when we ordered 5 vines 4 years ago from the St. Francois vineyards in Missouri, I was uncertain as to whether or not we would have success.  This grape requires a long growing season.

Well, they're growing just beautifully.  They have been slow to develop as vines, and a couple are still on the smaller side but all have produced beautiful, tight clusters of virtually disease-free grapes.  So far, the birds are mostly staying off them but I'm going to monitor them closely.  I did a sampling from all vines this morning, beating out the predicted high of 97 or better here on the first day of September, and got a reading of 14.8, which I thought was pretty good.
We're going to be gone for about a week in about a week, so a bit of a dilemma as to whether or not chance that the grapes will still be there when we get back or if I'll have to pick right before we leave and freeze the must.  I'll do the latter if necessary, since I hate to lose this good first crop.

Harvest Update

8-24-2011  Picked most of the DeChaunac and about half of the Frontenac.  DeChaunac were getting eaten by something, birds probably, and the Frontenac was looking pretty ripe.  Picked 15 lb. 5 oz. of just grapes.  This made about 1 1/2 gallons.

8-27  Picked all of the Aurore, of which there was little, the small couple of bunches of Cayuga Whites, 8 grapes from Moore's Diamond (birds got the rest) and some of the Niagara, enough to make about 2 3/4 quarts of pure juice.

All vines are covered, but birds, apparently, are still getting in at night.  I do not see them in there during the day and the electric fence is keeping raccoons out, so I can only guess that it is birds roosting and feeding there at night.
Nortons are ripening nicely, and the concords are getting good color though they still have a ways to go.

Getting close!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frontenac

Grapes are getting close.  I tested several varieties that are soon to be harvested.  I used my economy refractometer.  Here are the results:
Niagaras:  11.6, 10.8, 12.6

DeChaunac:  13

Aurore: 13

Frontenac:  16

Aurore I won't be harvesting.  Niagaras and the reds I'll monitor closely.  I have netting on them and the electric fence up, but will still watch for scavengers.  It looks like Frontenac will be ready a bit before the DeChaunac, and I want to combine them.  I may have to crush the frontenacs and get the juice from them and save it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DeChaunac

 

As you can see above, there is still some greater variation in the DeChaunac grapes.  Still, perhaps the end of next week I can pick the Frontenac and early next week perhaps the other reds.
The Niagaras are just beginning to get that soft, luminous glow that means they are ripening.  It will be a couple weeks before they are ready, though, as long as disease and animals don't start in on them.
The Nortons are just starting to show some color.  They're looking good and I should get a gallon off them this year--excited about that!

Nortons

 

 

I still need to put netting on the concords and the short row of Nortons.  I'll do that early next week.atten
We  attended the Wine Experience at the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday, as volunteers.  It was a lot of work but a great deal of fun as well.  We were glad to be able to help out.  There were quite a number of people who came through Grandfather's Barn and participated in the grape stomp.   I think we are quite likely to do it again.

Lots of stuff

What I Did:
     Canopy cleanup, put netting on one row, Sevin spray, prepared electric fence

Comments:
     It was a hot morning, but lots of work had to be done.  As you can see below, some critter has been attacking the seedless Concord grapes, which are beginning to ripen.

As you can see, this is an early ripening variety.  Note also the clear signs of anthracnose. This is the only plant I have seen the disease on this year, thankfully.  Maybe I'm beginning to get it under control.  In the photo below, you can see many grapes which had been ripped off the vine.  I suspect raccoon, though perhaps oppossum or, less likely, deer.  My money is on raccoons.  I also saw one of our other seedless varieties has been attacked, though it shows no signs yet of any color change.  They don't seem to have bothered anything else.  So, I decided to put netting on this row, since the birds have also been at some of the top grapes, and then string up the electric fence to discourage the mammals.

It will make canopy management a bit harder, but the grapes are too good this year to lose them to the raccoons.  I might even set up the live trap as well.

     I also took off quite a few low leaves and leaves on the back sides of the vines to allow better airflow and spray penetration.  As you can see in the photo above, though, the Japanese beetles do their own share of work allowing air through the leaves.  We think now the beetle onslaught was just delayed, as they are out in huge numbers right now.  So, I did a spray of Sevin.

I likely killed as many as 5000 beetles today.  They were really destroying some vines, and I couldn't let that go on.

9th week since bud break

What I Did:
     Spray with Sevin, Captan; open canopy; put in permanent posts on last row of Nortons

Comments:
     This was a busy week, spread out a bit.  The first thing I did was to install the new posts on the 3 Norton vines.  It was a very hot day to be digging post holes, but I made it through the job by about 12:30 and called it a day outside.  I knew it would be tough getting the vines onto the new lines, since the new ones are much higher than the old.  I should have done this early in the spring, after pruning, if I had been thinking right.  Doesn't always happen.  They look good now though, and I will retrain the vines next spring.  I also did some work on opening the canopy on the concords, though I need to make sure I do that before I spray.

New supports for the Nortons

     All in all, I'm very happy with the way the grapes look.  There is the smallest sign of disease I've experienced since introducing hybrid grapes.  I have only seen one grape that has split open resembling a PacMan character (signs of powdery mildew).  Every year this has been a problem, and these are the first to begin to show rot in late summer and the rot quickly spreads throughout the bunch.  Also very few birds-eyes, which would indicate anthracnose.

Some brown spotting on these seedless grapes

     We have been following the Japanese Beetle annual assault with a bit more interest this year, since it seems their numbers (fingers crossed!) are slightly down this year, so far anyway.  Is it a natural decline or possibly just due to the crazy summer we've had in which everything is slower?  Hopefully it's a sign of a change for the better.  Of course, there are still plenty of them around and they are making their presence known, as evidenced by the skeletonizing seen below.  It still amazes Kathy and I when we talk with people about them.  Many think we're talking about Asian beetles and are seemingly unaware of the Japanese beetles.

     They have also not attacked our red raspberries as much this year.  The reds produce two crops in a season, and last year I don't think we harvested a single berry in the early season.  The beetles got to them so much we just left them alone.  This year, the crop is very healthy looking and, again, though the beetles are present, many very good berries have been picked.

     The reds are not the only ones doing well this year.  Kathy found this little patch of black raspberries that have produced some of the biggest black raspberries I've ever seen.  I hope this patch spreads!  Our own domestic berries need some work, and we continue to be disappointed with their production and health.  Thank goodness for a great wild crop.

This photo doesn't do the berries justice--they are huge!!

     I don't know if I will make a batch of black raspberry wine this year, though.  We're going away for a week and by the time we return, there may not be much left on the bushes.  We'll have plenty for eating and pies, though.  Also, when I return it will be time to bottle some more of last year's wines, our DeChaunac and the Niagaras.  Can't wait!

Fifth Spraying

What I Did:
     Spray with Seven, Nova and Captan

Comments:
     Well, they're back.  We were gone for the weekend, and I figured the Japanese beetles would be making their emergence any day.  So far, the numbers are not overwhelming, but I'm not getting too excited--it's still early.

I took this photo on one of the prairie plants, since the Seven took care of all the bugs on the grapevines.  I fully plan to stay on top of them this summer, and see if we can make a dent in their numbers.  Not that we haven't tried in the past.  Maybe we have made a difference with all the thousands we killed by spraying and just by dumping them into soapy water.  I'd like to think so anyway.

I was glad it was a very calm afternoon, since the white clover is in full bloom, as you can see, and our honey bees are busy collecting nectar.  I wanted to minimize any drift and there was virtually no breeze.

Moore's Diamond

Grapes are looking good.  We did notice some spotting on a few and a bit of what I would call "rust" on some.  So far, though, I haven't seen any sign of grapes splitting open or the bird's eye sign of anthracnose.  I'm keeping fingers crossed.  On the De Chaunac, though, I did find some blotchy, bluish discoloration.  I saw this last year on some of them.  I'll have to keep track to see if the discolored berries have problems.

Purplish discoloration  on De Chaunac

Later in the week, I'll need to do some more canopy management, since the vines are really growing vigorously right now.