Apples, Hail, Hard Cider and Winter Prep

The apple season is almost over (finally!) so I'm slowly getting more time to focus on things other than post-harvest apple handling.

I got over to check on my cider apple trees about a week ago. They're pretty sad-looking, to be honest, but apparently that's what they usually look like. Some produced fruit this year, but most of it was on the ground before I even got there. I'm crossing my fingers that the ones that aren't dead are strong enough to survive the winter.

As far as hard cider goes, I finally made a batch that doesn't suck. It's nothing special, but at least it's drinkable. It's made of 100% Honeycrisp juice, which isn't something I'll be using again in the future. Single-variety ciders are usually pretty bland, and this one is no exception. I'm looking forward to getting some Northern Spy juice.

The grapes are looking good. The two frosts we've had have turned all the leaves brown. The canes are firming up nicely for the cold. I'll be covering the grafts with woodchips again, but I've got time before that needs to be done. As for next year, I'm working on finding more land to plant on. I'm hoping for at least another 2 acres and planning on putting in quite a bit of Vidal.

Hail has been a big problem in the area this year. My grapes, along with a majority of the farm's apple trees, avoided most of the hail. However, many growers around the region suffered major crop damage. We had some hit the smaller portion of our farm. After picking for about a week, we decided to abandon all the hail-hit apples and leave them on the tree, simply because they aren't worth enough to pay the workers to pick them.
So trees that look like this:













are being ignored because of 45 seconds of hail back in June. Just more proof that farmers are completely at the mercy of Mother Nature.

I've been not-so-subtly called out on not updating in a long time. My excuse is my absurd work schedule due to apple harvest. I haven't even SEEN my grapes in about 2 weeks. But anyway, here's the last few months in a nutshell:

It finally eased up on the rain in August, but not before infecting the whole area with debilitating downy mildew. The few fungicide sprays I applied kept the vines alive, but they're not pretty to look at. The vinifera vines look like someone lit the vineyard on fire- most of the leaves are a rusty brown color and very sickly-looking. The vines themselves seem healthy enough, but the foliage and any grapes I might have left on the vines are not in a good way. Luckily I was never planning on harvesting a crop this year. The hybrids look like nothing ever happened. They're still as vigorous and green as ever. Plant genetisists know what they're doing.

At some point I put up a new set of catch wires for the VSP and Scott Henry systems. I don't remember exactly when that was, but it's not that interesting anyway, so we'll move on.

A woodchuck made its home in the top row of chardonnay and destroyed two vines in the process. I will have my vengence- in this life or the next.

When I was thinning, I left a cluster or two on some of the healthier vines. Before apples set in I picked a few just to try. Not enough to make any significant quantity of juice, but a handful just to show that yes, this investment will eventually produce something worth while. I'm excited for next year when the vines will be trained correctly and look like the text books tell me they're supposed to and I don't have to worry about dropping fruit for the benefit of the plant. I'm also more excited about the promise of seedless grapes than I thought I would be. I guess that goes along with my instant gratification mentality- pick it and eat it. Don't worry about the long winemaking process before you enjoy the fruit of your labor.

In winemaking news, I'm still making hard cider in carboys in my basement. I seem to be improving with every batch, and I think I'm zeroing in on the desireable recipe. One setback- I broke my hydrometer, so until I get a new one I'm kind of working blindly with sweetness.

I can't think of anything else of interest. When apples are done and I'm bored again, I'll be updating a lot more regularly. Stay tuned, as they say.

More Rain

Over the past month, this happened:
-Finally finished shoot-thinning the whole block
-Broke and fixed a mower, then broke and fixed a tractor while mowing (long story)
-The Japanese Beetle invasion finally hit and needed to be sprayed.
-It has rained nearly every day of the month. Because of this, and because I haven't been using much fungicide, I now have downy mildew. If I was planning on picking a crop, I would have had to been spraying a lot more to prevent this.
-On the bright side, all the rain means we don't have to irrigate.
-I've been battling weeds pretty much everywhere, but more so in my new Noiret planting. I'll be finally putting in a cover seeding this week, if it ever stops raining long enough for the mud to turn back into dirt.

Rain

I realize I've been slacking with posts for a while. Sadly, there isn't a lot to talk about from this past month.

Today, it's raining again. FML.

At the point, the rain has become almost comical. New York City reported that of the 30 days in the month of June, 26 of them had measurable rainfall. That's way too much rain. Not only does it prevent a lot of work outside, but it's an easy way to get mold, mildew, rot and disease throughout your fields.

I've been slowly pecking away at shoot thinning when the sun peaks out (or just when the rain stops), but it's slow-going and I'm less than halfway done. I took some helpers with me one afternoon and taught them quickly what I'm trying to do and we made OK time, but usually when I need help, all the help on the farm is catching up doing other things that need to be done.

On a positive note, there's been a lot of great vine growth. The land they're on is proving its great drainage capabilities and the vines seem to be doing great. Even a lot of the Interlaken that I presumed dead have sprouted again and are making a comeback.

About this time last year is when the Japanese Beetle invasion started. I hadn't seen one until two days ago when I saw just one on a leaf. Last week I put on a much-needed fungicide spray to protect against mildew and rot, but I added some insecticide to try to keep ahead of the beetles. When you're not planning on harvesting a crop, you're usually not under too much pressure to spray. However, with all the wet weather, I'll probably have to put on at least one more fungicide spray just to keep the vines healthy. I'm sure that'll tie in with another hit of insecticide when the Japanese Beetles are in full swing.


This is a picture of the shoot thinning I'm doing in the Noiret. The training system I'm using is Scott Henry- notice the two-wire system. Ideally, the top-wire vine will always go left and grow shoots upwards and the bottom will go right and grow shoots downwards, so vines are basically stacked on top of eachother...kinda like the "z" blocks in Tetris. (I just thought of that Tetris reference right now and I'm kind of impressed with it)















^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Also notice how much I'm removing from each vine.

Same shot, up close.
















High-wire thinning. A thinned vine on the left, unthinned on the right.
















I've got my work cut out for me...















The first Japanese Beetle of the season.