pruning day two at the annex vineyard

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Today was gorgeous outside, but very very windy. When I got to the vineyard, Cliff had already completed pruning the second row, so I picked up all the vines he had discarded along the row and took them over to the brush pile until I caught up with him starting on the next row. I helped trim the excess vines too, but mostly just picked up and carted away all the trimmings that he was dropping as he stood on the ladder and did the main pruning. The wind was strong enough to knock the wheelbarrow over a few times and I got scratches on my arms from carrying twigs, but other than that it was rather rhythmic and pleasing work (for a short while anyway). We took a small break around 3:30 and walked around the SBC garden fence making sure that the electrical wiring wasn’t being short-circuited? somewhere by making sure the hot wires were clear of debree/metal meshing. Then we continued pruning. Some of the vines were rather mangled from the previous year when Cliff had just hacked the vines off with a power hedge trimmer to prune them, (since, unlike CZ, the annex vineyard is mostly left to its own growing devices, so he could get away with that). We stopped after four hours, but we still had a few rows left to do. Our brush pile is getting rather large.

some grub growing&dissection, and pruning day one at the annex

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Today I went to the Amherst Mill to pick up a handful of some red clover, rye grass and blue grass, which I brought back to the train station where we mixed it into some vineyard soil and put it in an antfarm as food for some june bug grubs that Cliff had found. We also added some store-bought milky spore powder (0.02% vol) to the mix to watch them crawl around and try to see if they get infected (hopefully) and what happens when they do (yay for more dissection), how long it takes, ect. Then Cliff took three of them that looked pretty down/diseased already to dissect under the microscope. It was revolting and kinda cool at the same time. Then we checked out their fat bodies under a stronger microscope hooked up to the computer.
Next we headed out to SBC garden where we did a bit of pruning on the vines in the garden, along the shed/barn wall and on the first row of the annex vineyard. First Cliff killed two vines that he didn’t want anymore by chopping them off at the base, drilling holes into them, and adding RAID in the holes. Then we walked around with the wheelbarrow and our sheers and started hacking away at the vines. Cliff basically cut off the main stems and placing the few essential vines where he wanted them so that they would grow back next year while I tried to remove the thinner excess vines near the top. I was a bit paranoid of cutting the wrong one, but I managed to get into tearing down the tangled twigs after a while. They were really twisted and difficult to untangle from the wires sometimes, but we managed to get through enough vines to make a decent sized brush pile. We still have five rows left though, so I’m going to head back over hopefully to finish them off on Thursday when the weather is supposed to be warmer. Very exciting!
Also, later tonight I did some research on Japanese beetles and milky spore disease while I was doing my laundry. Very fascinating stuff what people have done to gain knowledge that seems so seemingly irrelevant but when all strung together actually is extremely useful.

2nd wine-tasting class

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Tonight I helped Cliff with the set up and clean up of his second wine-tasting class. He talked more about the chemistry of wine-making this time, which was interesting, but far more complex than I had thought with a lot of ifs, ands, but maybes, and therefores. Since I have a swim competition this weekend though, I had to spit out all the wine I tasted, so it wasn’t quite the same experience as last time. Though since I was able to keep my head a little less-fuzzed, I noticed I was able to consolidate wines near the end much better and came home with an arm that didn’t smell like wine this time.

making bondfires and taking cuttings

Sunday February 11, 2007

Today I went over to the Amber’s vineyard to work outdoors! (yay!) It was a bit chilly, but not as bad as it has been, though there’s still some snow on the ground. First I got to watch Cliff cut down a tree maybe a foot diameter and trim the branches off, which we carted down with his tractor-cart-thing to add to the brush pile of trimmings from the vines in order to help it burn (since they were still a little green). We added a little deisil fuel (not gasoline because that would explode) and got a nice hot fire going which dried up the clippings enough so that they burned. He still has a lot of trimming to do, and needed to make space for a new pile. By the time the vine excess caught fire it was smoking pretty badly, but uber fun to watch so long as the wind didn't shift too suddenly and send smoking ash clouds in our faces. I also watched as Cliff spread some more ash on the vineyard that he collects from their fireplace to help bring up the pH of the soil. Then we went around the vineyard taking cuttings from certain different vines that people had ordered online. Each cutting was about a foot long consisting of three or four nodes and about pencil width. The bottom of the cutting was cut straight across the vine while the top was cut at an angle. That way whoever got them would know which end goes up, since vines won’t send nutrients the opposite way up the stalk (which I thought was interesting). I was kind of surprised how different the vines were. Some seemed to be thinner and straighter with not as many nodes while others were pretty twisty, ect. Then when we had however many they had ordered from each vine type (most seemed to be around 25) we would bundle them up and tie them at the top and bottom end with labeled pink ribbon-tape and put them in buckets with water to keep them moist. Then later Cliff said he would wrap them in wet newspaper and a trash bag and mail them out. Next time we have a nice day Cliff said he would take me out to help him prune, or cut back a lot of the vines essentially down to the first wire for next season. If we don’t, the vines go haywire and get tangled and would end up everywhere and produce too much fruit.

research day

Thursday February 8, 2007

Today was more of a catch-up/research day. I finished up writing my blog entries to put up online and did some research on nematoads. We were looking up websites that were selling them to get a feel for how much they cost. We also were trying to figure out more info on Japanese beetles and milky spore disease as well and how they are infected, ect. to see if we could effectively “grow” or reproduce the milky spore ourselves so that we could use it to infect the beetles at the vineyard. Cliff bought an ant farm online and now I have a pile of references for my paper I will be working on later on...

first wine-tasting class

Wednesday February 7, 2007

Today I helped Cliff set up for his first wine-tasting class setting out glasses and pitchers and then sitting at the door collecting class dues and checking IDs. I also helped him clean up afterwards corking bottles, cleaning up trash, and dumping out pitchers, ect. During the class, we tasted eight different wines and I learned some of the basics on how to observe them and take notes (see, swirl, smell, sip, and savour). We focused more on cheap whites today. I learned to try and pick out the grape smell/taste from other things that might contribute to the boquet, and what the “legs” of wine are (the tears that form on the glass after you swirl it—the more defined they are, the more alcohol is in the wine). Very fun. It’s surprising how much the wine went to my head even when I was pouring out probably half of the oz of each that we were tasting from into the spit bucket. (we tasted two at a time and by the last two I had troubles keeping straight which was which  ) I had fun trying to describe the smell and flavour. It was kind of tough to pick out certain smells and articulate what I thought I was smelling, but it was fun with a group of people at the table, since when someone suggested a certain smell I could sometimes then smell it myself. Holding the wine in my mouth and swishing really helped me to taste the flavour and keep it on my tongue longer too. I think I’ve mostly just knocked back wine before, more or less, (I know that’s terrible) so this was an interesting experience to actually take the time to try to savour it. I had always thought I was more of a fan of dry whites too, since I liked a particular kind of dry white, but I found that the two really dry whites we tasted near the end were not particularly to my liking, so I’m looking forward to tasting a few more different kinds to see if I am indeed a fan of dry or if I’m actually more of a fan of sweet whites. Plus I just felt more sophisticated swirling my wine glass.

nutrient analysis and fertilizer recommendations

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Today I finally got to analyze my results myself to figure out what it all meant!!! The testing kits themselves had a surprising amount of information regarding the recommended soil concentrations for the major essential nutrients for plants that are found in soil; N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S. So basically, first I did a bit of research on why their presence is so important for plant (particularly grape) growth, then I looked at their fertilizer recommendations (since adding fertilizers would raise/lower concentrations in order to approach the recommended optimum levels). Based on these recommendations, I was able to then formulate exactly how many bags of which fertilizers we should buy in order to reach these levels given how large the CZ vineyard is. Very exciting stuff!

Here are some basic facts I found about …

N (nitrogen): probably the most essential element for plants biochemical processes as a component in chlorophyll. It enhances above-ground growth, hastens plant maturity (as long as levels aren’t excessive), and is very influential in fruit sizing. However, too much nitrogen can cause excessive growth, which would not be good particularly for growing grapes for quality and not quantity.

P (phosphorous): also hastens maturity, encourages root development, and increases its resistance to disease. If concentrations are low, it can retard plant growth and lowers its vigour. However, unlike N, an excess of it is ok. P is often gradually depleted with cropping, so it must be replaced with phosphate fertilizers if concentrations are too low.

K (potassium): is an important basal metal cation in plant biochemical functions as it enhances disease resistance as well as fruit size, flavour, texture and development. Usually soils with high clay content have higher potassium content whereas sandy soils or those with little/no clay have low native K levels and are subject to severe leeching and annual K applications are required. (This is common in the S.E. US areas). The test we used measured for available K, which include the exchangeable colloids and potassium in the soil solution.

Total Ca (aka replacable calcium): concentrations can range from 0.1 to 25% in the soil and has a direct correlation with the acidity of soils. Acidic soils (usually found in the eastern half of the US) tend to have low Ca levels. Soils with lots of lime in them have high Ca concentrations. Ca is responsible for maintatining optimum pH levels as it reduces the acidity and toxicity of other minerals such as manganese, Zn, and Al. As such, it acts as a stabalizer in soil. It will not limit plant growth, but it effects other things which can. If concentrations are low, it indicates that much of the active Ca in the soil has been replaced by hydrogen or other ions, as in acidic or highly alkaline soils. Ca levels in normal sandy soils are usually around 500ppm; clay soils tend to be 1000ppm; and humus soils (like peats and forest molds) should be around 500ppm.

Mg (magnesium): like calcium, has its source in limestone, so naturally soils found in areas with lots of limestone will tend to have higher Mg concentrations. Mg is essential for plant photosynthesis. If concentrations are low, add limestone (treat with the dolomitic lime fertilizer), which contains lots of magnesia, but if your soil doesn’t need lime, they recommend adding Mg sulfate, Mg oxide or Mg and K sulfate. If concentrations are high/very high coupled with low Ca levels, they recommend treating it with gypsum or high calcite lime, with prevents Ca deficiency because of over-balance of Mg.

Based on our results for Mg and Ca, it appears that we don’t have to do much to the soil as it is already at the levels expected for the area and type of soil we have.
Our K levels were very high, so we also didn’t need to do anything to change K levels. N and P were a different matter, however. The test kit booklet recommended that when growing grapes, the NPK requirements were that they were all (at least/around) medium levels. Since we only found trace amounts of N and P, it’s clear that we need to bring up concentrations by adding fertilizers. Using their convenient chart in the back of their book (which gave their fertlilizer recommendations based on our test results), I found that according to their recommendation of adding 5lbsN/2000ft2 we would need around 145lbs of N, that’s 3.81 100lb bags of nitrogen fertilizer at 38%N (or 38lbsN/ 100lb bag) [given that the vineyard is 1.33 acres or 57,934 ft2]. They recommended we add 6lbsP/2000 ft2 that’s around 174lbsP, which is 3.86 100lb bags of phosphorous fertilizer at 45%P (or 45lbsP/100lb bag). However, Cliff thought that we probably would only need to add 4lbs of each per 2000 ft2 (he interpreted their recommendation chart slightly differently), which would amount to only 3 100lb bags of N fertilizer and 2.5 100lb bags of P fertilizer. And since they are sold in 50lb bags, that would be 6 bags N fertilizer and 5 bags P fertlilizer. However, Cliff said that he knows that the grape vines are already growing quite well without the fertilizer and that excessive nitrogen can cause excessive plant growth (which we don’t need), so he recommends not adding quite so much N and will add probably buy the 5 bags of P fertilizer and only 3 bags of N fertilizer.
Wow! Who knew this would be so much work to figure out how much fertilizer you need! I guess I always just assumed the more the merrier. But now I know that it’s essential to get the right balance for plant growth as well as economics. Fertilizers can be expensive!
After figuring this all out, I also started looking at mapping the vineyard onto the computer. Cliff had set up a database in Access which will record vine locations spacially based on mapping the rows and using trigonometry to find out the UTM (universal transverse mercador) corrdinates of each vine given: the UTM coordinates of the end points of all 23 rows; the angles of the rows of vines to an imaginary xy grid; and the length between vines along the rows (which we will measure out in the vineyard sometime next week, hopefully when it’s warmer). While Cliff had already programmed the formula into the database so that we could plot the location points of each vine once we found the distance along the row each vine was, he wanted to explain to me how he had derived it. Who knew I would actually use my 9th grade trigonometry knowledge of sin, cos, tang, and hypotenuse stuff! I just wish I’d remembered it a bit better... We also took a look at the database entry form itself on Access, which helps him to organize the names, breeds, particular hybrids, parents, and other qualitative and quantitative descriptions of his grapes. By the time we’re done, we will also have UTM coordinates for each vine in the database! That way we can bring the data into a GIS system where we will be able to create various maps of the vineyard and highlight certain data entries for each vine (represented by a point) to make interesting conclusions on data in a visual way or quickly pinpoint where a particular plant might be.

Mg and Ca testing

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Today I tested a few random samples (#s 1,5,9,14, 17, and 19) for magnesium and calcium using a different soil testing kit. I found that our Mg levels were medium to high, though probably more towards the higher side. The Ca test was much harder and was based on matching up various shades of grey and depending on the color-matching method I used and how much I squinted, I got slightly different results. I even enlisted Dr R Ambers as a second pair of eyes, but she had trouble deciphering the exact colour match as well, so I settled for a relative range. However, concentrations seem to center around an average of 1000ppm, some falling above and some slightly below that. (I cut today’s session a bit short, since I wasn’t feeling all that well.)

NPK and pH analysis continued...

Sunday, January 28, 2007

I went to the train station this frigid morning for another three hours to get ahead on my internship quota for the week. It went faster this time. I got into a rhythm and timed the testing just right with the various mixings and waiting for reactions, ect. I even boogied to country on the radio (which seemed to be the only good station that came in clear out here), since I was alone in the lab. I managed to get through five more samples before I ran out of Stock Solution for the Potassium test. I tried using the red pH probe instead of the green one this time, and it seemed to work a bit better as it didn’t keep rising quite so much. The results are still coming out pretty much the same for all the samples. I put my results into an excel spread sheet this time. Only seven more vineyard samples and the garden sample to go!

NPK and pH analysis completed

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Today I went back to the train station and finished testing the rest of the soil samples for the vineyard in testing for pH, P, and N (but we did not have any more stock solution for the K test anywhere, so I had to drop that one for the rest of the samples). Results were still relatively the same with the pH hovering between 6.5 and 6.8 or so and the P and N only at trace levels. I also tested a sample of soil taken from the Ambers garden, which had high levels of phosphorous (the test indicator showed a very pretty blue colour in contrast to the grey of the previous samples, so it was very exciting!), but still only trace levels of nitrogen. I also tested wood ash that Cliff had put on part of the vineyard (taken from their stove), which had a high pH (since it had a small amount of lime in it). The ash reacted to the P and N indicators by fizzing up (due to its calcium carbonate content—the indicators probably had acid in them), but I still managed to test it for P and K, and the results were only at the trace levels. Cliff had come in and was looking up what kind of fertilizers and how much he needs to add to the vineyard to bring up the NPK levels in the soil to optimize its growing capacity (..does that phrase make sense?). It’s nice to know all this testing is actually helpful! Thursday I plan to use another test kit to test for calcium, magnesium and possibly chlorine for a few of our samples.

NPK and pH soil analysis

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Today was a lab day up at the train station. Cliff had finished taking cores from the rest of the vineyard. I started analyzing the soil samples for Potassium, Nitrogen, Phosphorous and pH. I got through seven of our 19 samples, each of which I randomly picked out of our bucket. It was tedious work. I used a splitter device to divide up the sample into halves until I had a tablespoon or so of sample (split about 5 times), which I then weighed out on a calibrated scale: 10g for pH testing, 1.5g for Phosphorous testing, 1g for Nitrogen testing, and 2g for Potassium testing. To test the sample for pH, I used a pH probe, which I standardized using standard solutions of pH 7 and 4.01. I then took my 10g sample of the soil and mixed it with 10mL of DI water in a beaker, swirled it and let it sit for around 10 minutes before testing it with the probe. The pH seemed to hover around 6.5-7. I used a test kit to test for P, N and K, which involved various indicator solutions, powders, and pills and mixing them in test tubes, ect. I found only trace amounts of P and N. The K levels were very high. While these results varied slightly with the different samples, they remained very similar across the board. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the samples continue this trend. I will probably continue/finish testing next Thursday. I also was going to use another test kit to analyze the samples for magnesium and calcium as well, perhaps at a later date…

collecting soil samples

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Today I spent four hours out in the cold digging up dirt. (yay!) Cliff had mapped out his vineyard and divided it up into 19 paralellogram-type sections of roughly equal area (about 3,400ft²). We then went out into the field armed with a wheelbarrow, a large sieve (of I’m guessing .5cm by .5cm grid in a wooden frame), two sediment corers with bent spatulas, three buckets, plastic bags and a sharpee. We collected soil samples from within each area by taking sediment cores of one-inch diameter and about 5-6 inches deep. We took six cores per row for seven rows in each section alternating taking cores from the middle and the top of the row zigzagging across each row and collecting them all in a bucket. We each started from opposite ends and met at the wheelbarrow in the middle. Then we pushed our samples through the sieve on top of the wheelbarrow until we were left with a mixture of sifted soil that represented the entire section, which we collected in quart-sized plastic bags and labelled 1-19 (one bag per section). We got through approximately two thirds of the vineyard before 5pm. It was thoroughly exhausting work. We both had sore backs and sore hands from working out in the field. (We must have taken about 500 cores!) I have a new respect for manual labourers and farmer people.