Hi friends, I hope you are all well.

In a previous post I asked what I can do to improve this blog, and quite a few of you asked if I can upload some pictures of subsribers’ vineyards.

I just received these ones from Scott and I must say: “This is IMPRESSIVE results!”

Scott, became a member of the Complete Grape Growing System in February this year, and followed the grape growing information from the system to achieve these results!

I must admit, I’m so proud of him!  LOL 🙂 

Scott has done a great job and so can you.  These pictures proof that you CAN be a successful grape grower if you use the right techniques – I say no more … have a look and decide for yourself

Scott’s One Year Old Grape Vines

You too can achieve these results!

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Thanks Scott for sharing your pictures with us and again, congratulations on establishing such a fine looking vineyard.  Please keep us updated on your progress.

WOW, isn’t that a great looking vineyard?  I just wish I could see it in person – maybe one-day! 🙂

Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend.

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

Would you like to grow a vineyard like this?

I told you it can be done in one year, but you didn’t believe me! LOL  🙂

It’s time to get to work!

The Complete Grape Growing System is an online product and you will NOT receive a physical product.  All the information is available immediately for download, after you ordered the product. 

You will only be charged US$29 (or your own currency converted) once

This seems to be a topic of great concern to many vineyard owners all over the world, and there is a good reason for that as well.  A too shallow soil will for sure have an influence on how well your grape vine grows and how productive the vines will be.

To determine if your soil is too shallow for growing grapes, you need to know what the roots of the grape vine look like and how the root system develops over the years.  Another very important fact to keep in mind is that a grape vine don’t like wet feet.  In other words, the grape vine’s roots must develop in a well-drained soil with enough oxygen for normal nutrient uptake.  I wrote an article about this a while ago, so if you are interested, head over to the following web page:  The Importance Of Oxygen In The Soil When Growing Grapes 

With that said, what does the root system of a grape vine look like? 

On deep soil, the roots of a well developed grape vine can easily reach a depth of 15 feet and spread like a fan.  On the other hand, grape vines that grow on compacted soils or soils with an impenetrable layer, have roots that are poorly distributed, shallow, and stubby ended and grow horizontally, rather than downwards.

The optimum soil depth is about 2 meters or 6 feet and deeper.  The most active roots for food uptake are found in the top 600 to 800 mm (2 to 3 feet).  The roots below this area is responsible for oxygen intake and other respiratory actions.  Any shallower soil, will prevent proper root development.  However, this doesn’t mean you cannot grow grapes on a 1.5 meter deep soil.  There are vineyards that produce a reasonable crop on 4 to 5 feet deep soils, but I would say that 4 feet is about the minimum depth for growing grapes.

What will determine the depth of your soil.

Basically there are three types of obstacles that will determine the soil depth.  The first, and most obvious, is an impenetrable layer of rock (reef) or clay.  If possible, the reef can be cracked with a bulldozer and toe-plough, that enables the roots to grow down in the cracked reef.  To obtain the best results, it’s best to plough the land sideways and from top to bottom – this however is pretty expensive!

The second, and less obvious is a high water table.  If you live in an area where the water table is close to the surface of the soil, you can know for sure that the roots of the grape vine will not grow below that point.  There’s not much you can do about lowering the water table, except if can install a drain system, that will channel the water away from your grape vines – again, this is pretty expensive as well.

The third and probably the least obvious is an impenetrable chemical layer.  A chemical layer normally consist of a layer of soil with a very high or low pH, but can also be a layer of salt, because of year and years of fertilizing a soil, without proper soil management.  The roots of the grape vine will avoid these layers and rather grow sideways than into them.  Correcting these layers can be done with proper soil analyses and soil preparation and management.

My viticulture lecturer in collage, always said that the root system of a grape vine, will be as big as the canopy above – interesting statement isn’t it, but that’s why a too shallow soil will prevent good canopy development.

If there’s not much you can do to increase the soil depth of your vineyard, there is one final thing you can do before planting your grape vines – it’s called ridging.

Like farmers ridge potato lands, a vineyard can also be ridged (just on a bigger scale).  Ridging the soil along the length of the planting row, will increase the soil depth with about six to twelve inches.  I know this is not much, but could be enough to ensure a better root development.

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of a ridged vineyard right now, but I will try to upload one soon.  The ridges are about 8 to 10 inches high and about 4 to 5 feet wide and stretch from where the one end post will be planted, to the other – in other words, ridging should be done BEFORE planting your end post or canopy support posts..  The most practical way make a ridge, is to use turn plough several times on the same row or with a back-hoe.  Just ensure the plateau, where you will plant the vines and posts, is more or less lever.

Off course ridging has many disadvantages as well, such as …

• Ridged soils will dry out quicker because of a bigger soil surface exposed to sunlight and wind.
• Normally, the planting rows need to be wider to make space for tractor movement between two adjacent ridges.
• Working (harvesting, thinning out bunches, suckering etc.) in ridged vineyards will be much harder, as the canopy will be higher above the normal ground level.
• Weed control is more difficult because of the higher planting row.
• Expensive way or soil preparation

Hopefully, with these tips you will know what to do.

Good luck and happy grape growing my friends

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

 For the most complete grape growing reference and training manual out there,online and off-line, join the Complete Grape Growing System today.

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Hi again friends.

Yes, it’s time for a new grape vine training video! 🙂

Jim, a member of The Complete Grape Growing System, send me an email a few days ago, asking some assistance with how to train his grape vine on his pergola.  I made this video an uploaded it; maybe you can learn something from it as well – hope so!

Anyway, the size video is about 30 MB, so it may take some time to load with slower internet connections.

Good luck and most of all – enjoy it!

Take care

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

Join the Complete Grape Growing System Today and learn how to make YOUR grape vine stand out above the rest!

For a once-off fee of just $29

Hi again friends,

Welcome back to www.My-Grape-Vine.com ‘s blog.

This is not a regular grape growing blog post as usual, but rather a cry for help :-).  Yes, I need your feedback on how I can improve your learning experience at My Grape Vine.  The Internet is a wonder on it’s one, but it’s still a “cold” way of communicating with people.  Email is becoming more and more unreliable and with all the junk that fill our in-boxes, it’s really not easy sifting out what’s junk and what was send from a person who really needs help.

Please, take some time to think this over and don’t repeat a suggestion someone else already made.  You can show your support for an already suggested topic by replying to that specific reply.

Thanks for your precious time …

Ready for a success story?

I received the following pictures from Jacques, a member of The Grape Growing System.  He owns a small vineyard in Louisiana and used the Grape Growing System for the past year with GREAT success!  Jacques, I hope you are reading this and thanks for sending me the pictures and WELL DONE MY FRIEND! 

Notice how the well the above vineyard develops …

Great training techniques Jacques – good job!

Hopefully next year you will have a truck load full of this …

Here is the email from Jacques (please note I have deleted some private details from the email).

Hi Danie,

I can’t wait for next summer to see if the grapes will do as well as the vines.

Thanks, Jacques xxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxx, La

Would you like to grow a vineyard like this?

I told you it can be done in one year, but you didn’t believe me! LOL  🙂

It’s time to get to work!

The Complete Grape Growing System is an online product and you will NOT receive a physical product.  All the information is available immediately for download, after you ordered the product.  You will only be charged US$29 (or your own currency converted) once, with no further payments or any hidden costs – GUARANTEED.

Get it now!

Hi my grape growing friends.

Wow!  It’s middle June already; can you believe it!  For you guys in the northern hemisphere, your grape vines should be well developed by now, with some varieties already in flowering.  

Here in South Africa, we are preparing for pruning the early varieties by the end of the week. 

But this is not what this article is about!  I received an email from one of the members, who joined My Grape Vine in first year we went online, way back in 2006. 

Here is her email:

“Danie, I’ve been a member of My Grape Vine since who knows when? And I’ve been following your grape growing techniques by the book.  I must admit, I still need to learn allot, but your program and emails (and blog updates) are simply amazing.

I know you get allot of email questions and I will understand if you do not reply to this one, but what I would like to know is; what are five most important things to do, to make my grape vines stand out above the rest?”

Thanks for your time and effort

Chantal

The five most important things?  Mmmmm, okay the first thing that comes to mind is, and that is probably the most important is:

1. Choosing the right grape variety:  I would say 40% of your success depends on what variety you choose.  This is particularly important if you live and a cold climate where winter temperatures drop below freezing or if you live in a tropical climate, where rain often occur during the growing season.  Remember, some varieties are more susceptible to cold damage and diseases, than others.
2. The second thing that comes to mind is; pruning.  Without pruning your grape vine, you will never be a successful grape grower – period.  Now, pruning a grape vine is a complex and often hard to understand subject for new grape growers, but once you’ve done it like it is suppose to be done, you WILL see a huge difference in the way your grape vine grows and you WILL have more fruit for sure!
3. Training and developing the structure (framework) of your grape vine.  Forming a correct framework of your grape vine will improve the overall performance of your grape vine tremendously.  A properly developed grape vine, will ensure good sunlight and air penetration into the vine.  This is particularly important for disease control and fruitfulness.  DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPERLY TRAINING YOUR GRAPE VINE!
4. Keeping diseases under control.  Now, this is easier said than done, especially if you try to grow your grape vines organically and you live in a hot, humid climate.  Although there are excellent fungus and pest control products on the market, the timing of your spray application, as well as managing the canopy of the vineyard is more important.  Remember that prevention is better than cure!
5. The last but not the least is; summer treatments or growing season treatments for your grape vine.  Growing grapes of good quality, all comes down to managing the grape vine canopy.  After choosing the right variety, I would say that this is the second most important aspect of growing grapes.  Things like removing water shoots, leaf pulling, suckering, tying down shoots, crop size management and cluster thinning are all part of this process.  Without managing the canopy, your grape vine will not stand out above the rest!

Okay, so now you have my opinion what the five most important aspects of growing a grape vine is.  I see you frowning; what about fertilizing and watering?  Yes, they are important, but the above is more important. 

Take care and happy grape growing

Join the Complete Grape Growing System Today and learn how to make YOUR grape vine stand out above the rest!

For a once-off fee of just $29

NOTE:The Complete Grape Growing System is an online product and you will not recieve a physical product.  All the information is available for download from the membership site.

I often receive questions about why the leaves of a grape vine turn yellow long before fall.

Although there are about 20 reasons why these symptoms show on leaves, I think the most common reason for yellowish leaves on a grape vine, is Magnesium (Mg) deficiency.

Not all grape vines show symptoms of Magnesium deficiency, but it is becoming more and more evident in vineyards as we learn more about the importance of Magnesium for optimum grape quality.

What is the function of Magnesium in a grape vine?

Magnesium form part of the chlorophyll molecule.  As you can recall from school, chlorophyll is a green pigment found in most plants, hence the green colour of chlorophyll-containing tissues such as the leaves of your grape vine.

As we all know by now; the leaves (and green parts) of the grape vine is where the carbohydrates are manufactured and transported to the rest of the grape vine.  These carbohydrates are necessary for optimum growth, the immunity of the grape vine and for the proper development of the berries.

The symptoms of Magnesium deficiency:

More often, the symptoms of Magnesium deficiency is overlooked when growing black or red grapes, as white varieties show Magnesium shortages more prominent.

Deficiency symptoms are seen on the older basal leaves and start with leaf margin yellowing that moves inward. The leaf veins stay green the longest and the areas between become pale green and often creamy white. In red grapes, there may be a reddish colouring that develops between the veins (like the picture below).

  If you are not familliar with these terms, have a look at the picture below:

Not only does Magnesium deficiency affect the leaves and the manufacturing of carbohydrates, but it can also lead to premature fruit drop at harvest (more reason to keep a look out for the symptoms!).

How to correct Magnesium deficiency:

The most common mistake grape growers make, when they diagnose a grape vine with a Magnesium deficiency, is add tons of Magnesium to the soil or foliar.

Over the past 20 years I have been growing grapes, I have found that most of the time, it is not a shortage of Magnesium that cause the problems (symptoms), but more often it is a pH problem or Potassium (K) / Magnesium imbalance.

The problem starts when you are growing grapes on more acid soils.  Magnesium is tied up to the soil particles of acid soils and become more and more unavailable to the grape vines, the lower the pH gets.

Now, the first thing you do before planting your grape vine, is to correct (raise) the pH of these soil, right?  But most of the times, grape growers don’t take into account that by adding elements like lime and Potassium to correct the pH, it can cause even more Magnesium to become unavailable to the plants!

Soils with very high levels of Potassium (K) (many of the organic growers will have this problem), will have little available Magnesium.  Why?  Because Potassium will displace Magnesium cations (Mg ++), making less  Mg anions available to the plant.

In other words, if you have a low pH soil (below 5.5 pH), and you want to raise the pH without binding the Magnesium, you should apply dolomitic lime (high in magnesium) at the rate of two to four tons per acre – BUT before you run out to by some lime, I do recommend you let your soil be analyzed first.  Magnesium soil test values between 100-250 ppm are considered adequate for growing grapes.

If the Magnesium deficiency symptoms are picked up during the growing season (normally between flowering and veraison), a petiole analysis (leave stalk analysis) of the grape vine is the right way to determine what is going on inside the grape vine.  A foliar spray of Magnesium sulphate will temporary correct the issue.  The most common recommendations are 15.0 to 20.0 lb. of magnesium sulfate/100 gal. sprayed as a dilute spray at 200 gal./acre.

Then again; get your vineyard soil analyzed do the corrections there, as Epson salt can cause foliar and fruit damage if mixed with other products.

 I hope that this article shed some light on the subject of the importance of Magnesium when growing your grape vines.

Have an excellent day my friend!

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

P.S.  Did you like this tip? 

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Hi friends, I hope you had a wonderful week!

This is now the second post, where we take our 2009 growing season in retrospect and since we had some problems with cuttings we bought last year, I thought it would be a good idea to include this post.

This week I will try to answer a question I so often get from growers all over the world – 

“How do I know if my grape cuttings are still alive?”

In the picture below is a cutting that looks dead;  with a brown, corky bark and no signs of life.  For someone with little or no grape growing experience, this will for sure be the case, but I guarantee you that it is still alive!

How can I be sure?

Take a sharp carpet or pocket-knife and scrape the bark from the cutting to reveal the cambium (the thin layer just beneath the bark). IMPORTANT: DO NOT CUT THE CUTTING, simply scrape off the bark, otherwise you may damage the grape cutting and it will not be your grape vine one day!

From the picture below, you can see that the cambium is a dark green colour.  This is your proof that the cutting is still alive. 

If the colour of the cambium is a pale green of brown, it means that the cutting is either dying or dead already.

Okay, I hope you find this info helpful and that from now on, you will not wonder if the cuttings you are about to plant is still alive.

Take care and happy grape growing.

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

P.S.  Did you like this tip?  This is just the tip of the iceberg! 

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Hi friends,

I received quite a few emails about training a young grape vine, so I made a video for you!

This short video, will show you how to train a young grape vine to develop the permanent structure of the vine.  Enjoy!!

On slower internet connections, this video may take a while to upload.  Please be patient..

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Hi dear grape growing friends!

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, but with our grape harvest coming to an end next week, I will have more time to spend with you; and for those who though I abandoned My Grape Vine – “NO, NEVER!“

Besides the fact that it has been a year of excellent quality grapes, it’s been quite a difficult harvest time as well.  With grapes weighing much less than the previous year, the total number of cartons we packed is about 9% less than 2008 (some of my friends reported a 19% reduction in cartons).

The biggest problem this year was the sugar/acid ratio in the grapes.  The grapes struggled to reach the correct sugar content for export, some colouring problems and a few diseases that was hard to manage.  All of this made it an interesting but challenging harvest, so say the least!

Over the next couple of weeks, I will take our past growing season in retrospect and share with you some of the things I’ve learned (yes, one never stop learning in this business!).  I hope this will show you what to look out for, what to do and how to prevent it.

Managing weeds, ground covers and grass in a vineyard.

With the high rainfall in November and Desember, the weeds in our vineyards was a huge headache!  If you ever planted a young grape vine, I am sure you will agree that the biggest enemy of a young grape vine is grass and weeds.  Weed infested vineyards don’t as well as weed-free vineyards.  You need to minimize competition for water and nutrients from weeds and grass growing adjacent to your young grape vines.

When planting your grape vine in your backyard, or into an established lawn, it is recommended that you remove a square patch of sod to keep the weeds away from the roots of the vines.  This will ensure that your young vines don’t need to compete with the grass or weeds and keep the square weed free at all times.

Mulches or ground covers:

Mulches or ground covers have several advantages. In addition to suppressing weed growth, they also reduce moisture loss, helping to keep the soil evenly moist.

Decomposing mulch will improve the soil structure and put some much-needed nutrients into the soil, making it very good agricultural practice.

But using mulches also has disadvantages!

For me, the biggest disadvantage of using mulch is the cost and the fact that it pose a fire hazard during the hot, dry summers.  Depending on what type of mulch you use or where you get the mulch, it can also carry unwanted weed seeds, which will germinate and grow in the mulch itself.

In wet years or on poorly drained soils, mulches can hold excessive moisture,

forcing growth that fails to harden off in the fall and resulting in winter

injury or collar rot.

Apply a layer of mulch, at least 4 inches thick to cover all sides of the vine.  If you have a row of vines, cover the whole ridge where most of the roots are to ensure proper moisture and weed management.

When laying out the mulch, keep it away from the stem of the vine because the decomposing material can harm the stem of the vine (especially when you plant new vines); this is called collar rot as mentioned above.

Whether you will be using mulch or not, it is important to keep your vineyard weed-free, especially newly planted grape vines.

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Let’s say you succeeded in getting your new grape vine to reach the top trellis wires the previous season; now what?  What are the goals for the second year of growing a grape vine. 

As mentioned in a previous article, the goal for year one is to establish the grape vine, develop a strong root system and training the grape vine to the trellis wires.  In year two, we will start to construct the framework or cordon of the grape vine.

Constructing the framework of the vine is one of the most important aspects of training a grape vine, as this will be the permanent structure of the vine from which canes and spurs will be pruned.  These canes and spurs will be the fruit bearers for your grape vine.  It will also be the area where you will do most of the pruning in the future and from which you will renew the grape vine as well. 

What is the framework (also known as arms or cordons)?

From the main stem that grows straight up from the ground, in spring, new shoots will develop from buds in the canopy area (where the trellis wires are).  These shoots will laterally cover the trellis wires, and will look like a fishbone; a main vertical structure with laterals developed sideways.

Your goal is to cover as many of the trellis wires during this growing season, so you will have enough canes to choose from during the pruning season.  These canes will be pruned to arms or cordons; normally 2, 4 or six, depending on the trellis system you use.  As explained in the Complete Grape Growing System, the gable trellis system I construct and use, although a bit more expensive than the well known kniffen systems or two and three wire systems, is a very versatile trellis.  It allows you to spread the shoots evenly among the wires and will exposes the leaves of the vine to the much-needed sunlight much more efficiently.

Developing the framework of the grape vine is an ongoing process during year two and three of growing a grape vine.  After you have covered the wires of the trellis in the second growing season, the leaves will fall off during winter, exposing the canes that needs to be pruned.  If you decided to have say for example 4 arms, then you need to prune these four arms back to 6 to 8 buds and tie it to the trellis wires.

It is important to not leave enough room for shoots to develop from the arms during the upcoming growing season.  Don’t try to construct too many arms on a small canopy;  there should be at least  500 mm or 20 inches between two arms, otherwise the grape vine will get too compact in years to come.  This will allow proper airflow through the vine and will also allow the sunlight to penetrate the vine – important for fruitfulness.

Constructing the lower arms of the grape vine first, before you will start to develop the upper arms.  Both can be developed during the second year of growing your grape vine if your grape vine grew well enough.  However, the bottom arms are your main concern at this stage.  NEVER try to develop the upper arms before the lower arms.  A grape vine tends to neglect basilar growth.

I hope this article gave you some insight on developing the framework during year two of growing a grape vine.

As I always, say:  “Develop a poor structure and you will pay the price!”

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