Starting Grape Vine Cuttings

Spring is the time to get your grape vine cuttings started.  You don't want to start them much earlier than mid-March as they need a long period of dormancy before they will come out of dormancy for rooting purposes. 

I start my cuttings around the first week of April and that's often when I take my cuttings as well.  Here is what I do to get the cuttings started indoors.

1) First - start with a 2-3 bud cutting.  At the cutting ends it should show a nice green colour with lighter yellow green on the interior - this is a healthy part of the cane. 

2)Stand the cuttings up in a cup or jug of water that goes half way up the cutting for at least 24 hours to allow the cutting to hydrate and absorb water.  Remember the buds point upwards so it is easy to tell what end of the cutting is up and which is the bottom.  The cuttings draw water from the bottom to top.  See cutting below with bud that point upwards;

3)Prepare a 50/50 mixture of peat moss and perlite as a rooting medium to start the cutting in.  You will also need small pots to plant the cuttings in.  I like small clear plastic cups and you can put one cutting per cup.  I like the clear plastic ones as you can see if the cuttings are rooting and how much roots have formed.  You'll need to poke a small hole in the bottom of each cup so the water you put in will moisten the rooting medium but drain out. I use a power drill with a long thin drill bit and can stack about 20 cups together and drill all 20 at once.  Its good to hydrate the cuttings for the first 24 hours but can't leave the cuttings in a soggy-soaked environment, they will rot - the drain hole is important.

4)Next take the cuttings out of the water and set them on a paper towel to allow the water to drain off of them.

5)Dip the bottom of the cutting into rooting hormone.  I use "Stim Root #2" in the powder form with success but #1 may be better.  Follow the instructions on the product.  This is a rooting hormone that stimulates the cutting into producing roots. See below the rooting hormone I use;

6)Fill one of the cups about 3/4 full of the rooting medium and stick the cutting (that you have dipped into the rooting hormone) deep into the medium to about 1" from the bottom of the cup.  Now with your fingers and wearing gloves pack the rooting medium so it supports the cutting in the medium. Wear gloves while handling anything with the rooting hormone on it.  Mark the cups with a marker if you are starting different varieties so you don't mix them up.

7)Now, you'll want to put the cups on top of something that will warm the base of the cup.  The cuttings will begin to root in soil that is warmer  (this is also why you push the cuttings into the rooting medium to about 1" from the bottom).  You can use a warming mat for indoor growing and can buy these from your local green house.  I put my cups inside a small plastic container and put the container on the mat this way it contains the water that drains out of the bottom of the cups when you water them.  I also put a thermometer between the cup so I can monitor the base temperature, which 24celcius - 27celcius (75f-80f) is ideal. See the plastic container used to hold the planted cuttings below;

8)Now water the cuttings in small increments for the first day to get the rooting medium nice and moist, then after that every few days when you see the moisture levels low.  You want the rooting medium moist but not soggy.

9)Depending on the vine variety you may see the cuttings pushing buds out quickly within a few days and other between a week or two. See below as a bud is stating to push;

10)You will see the buds start to grow into shoots with leaves and probably flower clusters.  Not all cuttings will push buds and many that do will still not grow roots - it depends on many things, especially the environment they are growing in and the health of the cutting.  Shoot for 50% cuttings growing into vines but you may get more.  Also, I'd recommend gently pinching off the flower clusters as these will develop at the expense of more vital parts of the vine including the shoots, leaves and roots.

11)Once you have some nice roots forming and shoots growing well it is good to start introducing your vines slowly to the outside air and sunlight.  I start by first putting them in a very shady area then slowly introducing them day by day to more sunlight.  If you just put them directly into full sun they will wither and die.  I also put them into larger pots that can hold more water at this time.

12)Once they are able to withstand a day in the sun they are ready to plant into the ground.  Keep them watered but not soaked - they don't like to be soaked.

The other way to start cuttings is to just stick the cuttings into the ground.  Wait till after the last frost before doing this. If you have taken the cuttings in late winter/early spring you may have to store them for several weeks before you can plant them.  To store them I wrap my bundle of about 10-20 cuttings in moistened paper towel and then seal them up in a plastic bag.  Then I store them at the back of my refrigerator where the temperature is about 0 c. I've planted cuttings this way and have had the cuttings produce vines but not as successfully as starting them indoors first.  If you are just going to plant the cuttings direct to the soil, hydrate them first for 24hrs and also use rooting hormone.  Stick them into the ground about 3-4 inches deep.  I'd also make sure the soil stays moist.  They will take much longer to grow this way and will be very small the first year vs. starting them indoors, but it is much easier and less labour intensive.

Vine House 2013 Leon Millot wine

Just opened the 2013 Leon Millot that was bottled before Christmas 2013.  We had a great growing season and the grapes finished with good sugar acid balance of 22 brix, ph 3.1.  The season was hot and long and the fruit conditions warranted a conventional maceration and fermentation of the grapes.

We were looking for a mid weight Leon Millot with a bit of shelf life and less fruit explosion and a bit more complexity. So far we are on the way.  The acid has tamed somewhat since the bottling stage as expected.  This is common for the first few months after bottling and then the acid reduction starts to slow.  

By way of balance, the wine is nice and drinkable now especially with a 3 hr decanting but a year from now would be quite nice.  The colour is mozambique garnet red with the slightest of purple hues expected of a young red wine.  The aroma is strong in ripe plum (65%) with less cherry aroma than when it was bottled but still noticeable (25%) followed by a hint licorice (5-10%) which is new for me in aromas of Leon Millot and also an aroma that I usually have a more difficult time separating from the others.

The flavours have changed also and the stand out is dark sweet cherry (60%), with dark chocolate almost cocoa bean (30%), and a hint of raspberry (10%).

The wine is nice and for those who don't know Leon Millot would be reminiscent of Syrah but its a lighter wine, not as big or complex as a Syrah.  Leon Millot is also very vinifera like with usually no hybrid flavours and this is no exception.

Winter Snow Cover Protects the Vines

We've had an interesting winter so far.  It was not overly cold until the beginning of February when we had a few nights dip down to the -20c range.  However, we have not had a whole lot of snow cover for the vines.
Here is an old picture of the vineyard, with the snow at about 3 to 3.5 feet  up the exterior 7 foot posts - this is what we have in most winters and it covers most of the vine canes.

So usually we get about 3 feet of snow that accumulates to that level by mid December and stays till early February.  This year we've had about a foot less and this has left the vines exposed to the elements more than usual.  See below with snow just above 2 feet level of the 5 foot trellis posts;

The -20c cold is not the big issue as all of our vines even the Pinot Noir and the Zweigelt can handle these temperatures but what can cause the winter damage is the freeze thaw cycles we get over the winter as well.

It is not uncommon in the winter months for us to get day time highs of +5 followed by night time lows of -5 to -10.  This can serve to thaw the vines during the day and freeze them again at night.  What protects them from the freeze thaw cycle is a nice snow cover.

Having taken a few cuttings in early January, there was no apparent damage to the canes but the buds can be a bit more tender and its harder to assess if damage has occurred in the buds until spring and bud break.  We'll see what happens in a few months.

New Insect Netting

Since 2010 we've been using a insect net to protect from wasps.  The conditions change year to year and sometime we don't need insect netting and other years we use just bird netting.  Usually the warm years, where the grapes are ripening early and the sugars are high while the wasps are still quite active are the conditions that bring the wasps to the grapes.  It becomes a big problem if you have the above conditions then you get a heavy rain, the vines soak up the rain and the grapes swell and crack.  After that the wasps can really smell the sugars and are all over the grapes in a day.  Some grapes are more prone to cracking than others after a big rain so this is a factor also.

In any event, this past year we lost virtually all the Lucy Kuhlman and the Colmar to wasps after a rain on September 6th, grapes cracked on the 7th and by the 8th there was nothing left.  We got the vines covered on the 8th and that saved the rest of the varieties however, what was interesting is that as we got the grapes covered and the wasps couldn't get to them, within minutes they started to get into other varieties that they had not even had an interest in. Once hey found that grapes had high sugar inside it didn't matter if they were cracked or not they started on them and biting through the skins.

Covering the grapes is critical and we've used the kootenay covers since 2010.  They are tough and do not let in any insects that would harm the grapes.  Kootenay covers were developed for tree fruit crops but we decided to try them for grapes and in terms of resilience to the elements and keeping the bugs out they are great.  The draw back is that it is white and reflects the September sun which is desperately needed for ripening.  The other draw back for grape us is the holes are quite small and while good at repelling insects it also means little light gets through and the grapes are partially shaded by the cover.

In 2012 with 940 degree days and 85 days from flowering to harvest we achieved 20 brix on the Leon Millot that were only covered with bird netting - not the insect netting.  This year with 1030 degree days and at least 95 day growing period from flowering to harvest we achieved 21-22 brix.  We were expecting 22-23.  While there is so many factors that determine the ripeness and sugar content at harvest, we have found in the years that we have used the kootenay covers the brix seems lower than what we would have expected and we believe it is that too much light is reflected and the shading is a factors also.

We've obtained a new netting for this coming year that is black and the openings while small are many and will let in lots of light.  Shade factor is about 4-5% in the new net where as with the kootenay covers it is about 15%.  10% more sun should make some difference.

2013 Vintage: Red, White, and Rose'

We had a good year for the grapes in BC and from them produced three wines this year.  We have a red Leon Millot varietal, a blended white, and a St. Croix rose'.

The wines are young and have been cold stabilised and cleared but they will have to cellar for some time to mature.  Out of the carboy they were all nice, however, the St. Croix rose' needs about 6 months of cellar time but can be drank early.  The Leon Millot needs about a year in the cellar, and our trade mark "Arrow Lakes White" blend needs about 1-2 years.

In a months we'll open the St. Croix rose' and a month later the Millot, then the white after to see how they are developing.

Leon Millot Crush and Pess 2013

The Leon Millot fro the vineyard in BC were nice this year and after crush the juice was 21 brix and 3.2 ph.  Nice parameters for making wine.  One thing that is great about this grape is the juice is very highly coloured and after 3 days fermentation on the skin I pressed the must and the wine colour is very dark already.  The new wine press from Musca wine supplies worked great.

We're going for a lighter fruity wine this year as part of the experiment of growing the grapes is also experimenting with styles of wine that the grapes can make.  The

Evangeline Grape

We've have the Evangeline growing for a few years now and this year we got to see how it performed.

This grape is a cross between Seigerrebe and St. Pepin.  It was created in Canada in Nova Scotia and it is as early as Seigerrebe, has the beautiful muscat flavouring but is cold tolerant to about -31c and has some disease resistance to both powdery mildew and downey mildew.

It is very  vigorous grower and put up huge canes this year on our vines.  The clusters are long and loose and the berries are the biggest of all the varieties we grow - about double the diameter of Marechal Foch.

This variety is the latest to break bud and to flower but among the earliest to ripen.  This year it flowered on July 3-4th and we picked them about 65 days later on September 8th at 18 brix and 2.9ph (see it pictured here on Sept 8th).  Had to take them before the wasps did.  We left a few bunches on the vines and the wasps didn't find them and on October 5th we recorded 21-22 brix and 3.3 ph.

This grape is fantastic, it is already growing (not commercially) in Nova Scotia and should be considered for marginal growing areas like Vancouver Island, south interior BC (West Kootenays) and (East Kootenays) especially where cold winters, short seasons, and late spring frosts are an issue.

Great Grape Harvest for 2013

We had a great year for growing this year and despite the 8 week drought in late September to mid-September the vines did great.  We had about 1030 C degree days growing. 

They have had 5 full growing seasons in the soil now and must have good roots, especially in the Ravat 34 and Leon Millot that have been around the longest.

The wasps were the biggest factor in Harvest and they took virtually all the Lucy Kuhlman and Colmar Precoce Noir.  These are among the earliest grapes we have.  However, the Evangeline (KW96-2) is really early and we picked it on September 8th at 18brix and 2.9ph as we did not have enough wasp netting to cover them.  They are among the the latest to bud out and the latest to flower and the earliest to harvest with giant juicy bunches of grapes.  We left a few Evangeline bunches in hopes that the wasps would miss those and then we could see the numbers at full ripeness.

Some of the numbers we got this year harvested Oct 5 as follows;
Variety                                          Brix             PH
Leon Millot                                    22               3.2
Ravat 34                                         18               3.0
Acadie Blanc                                  19               3.0
Petite Milo                                      22               3.1
Evangeline                                      21               3.3 
Castel                                              22               n/a
Foch                                                21               n/a
Triompe                                          21               n/a

Wasps Destroying the Grapes

The early grapes, high sugars and heat are the perfect conditions for wasps to invade the vineyard.  Usually we don't have this issue as the grapes are just coming into ripeness and high sugar as the cold weather is approaching.

This year is an exception and the wasps were destroying the grapes.  Fortune would have it that i still had the old nets that i started with from Kootenay Covers.  They have small aperture openings that do not let the wasps or larger insects in.

Instead of putting out the bird netting I put out these nets instead and hopefully it will keep the wasps away. Thus far they had nearly taken all the Lucy Kuhlman grapes.  I swatted a few of them and they are all full of grape juice, and they are easy to hit as they are so full of juice as to be barely able to fly.

Unfortunately in this case the vineyard has grown and I did not have enough of the Kootenay Covers netting to cover all the vines.  What was interesting is that once I covered the all the grapes I could, the wasps then went on to locate other grapes in the vineyard that were still exposed and began to eat those ones - even those that normally would not have attracted them as they are not yet quite as high in sugars as the Lucy Kuhlman.

Grapes Looking Good Sept 2013

With excellent heat the vines are really far ahead in terms of ripening the grapes this year. 
Here is where we are at for Brix as of Sept 8, 2013
Grape              Brix     PH
Castel              15
Leon Millot     17        2.8
Evangeline       18       2.8
Ravat 34          12
Foch                 15
Lucy Kuhlm     15
Triompe            16
Acadie               14
Colmar              16
Petit Milo           16

Here is some pictures;
Ravat 34

 

Leon Millot

Evangeline (this was a smaller cluster, most are a lot bigger than this one)