Maintaining a grape vineyard is a year-round labor of love for grape farmers and hobbyists. This is a description of the some of the basic spring time tasks; however, it should be noted that wine grapes are more delicate and take more care than juice grapes like Concord and Niagara varieties. Below you’ll see some basic directions for caring for established grape vineyards in the spring.
Early Spring
Replacing Posts and Wires
If the vines grow in long rows over wires, spring is a good time to test the posts holding the wires and vines to make sure they are still durable. To do this, walk through each row looking for leaning or cracked posts, or sagging wires. You might shake each post, or tap it with a hammer to see if it shifts. If it does, or if the wood is cracked or rotted, you’ll need to replace the post. Take care not to disrupt any vines as you dig it out. You’ll need a post-hole digger or an auger to dig a hole that is at least 4 feet deep for the replacement post. After replacing the post, reattach it to the wire with a sturdy staple.
Wires wear over time as well. Rusted wires can snap and break when full of heavy vines, so if any seem brittle, you’ll want to replace the wire through the whole row. If you string the new wire before dismantling the old wire, you can save some work re-positioning all the vines.
Posts at the end of the rows holding the wires are bigger than the interior posts, so replacing them is more arduous. However, they also don’t wear out as quickly. Recently, grape equipment suppliers have changed some of the chemicals in the posts to make them more environmentally friendly.
Tying
After winter trimming, loose vines will need to be reattached to the wires to make sure the vines can hold the weight of the grapes to come. It’s nice to have a little pouch for your waist to hold small, wire, twist-ties as you walk through each row. Often, grape rows have a high and low vine. You want to wrap the vines around the wires and secure them with the twist-ties. Make sure you balance each side of the vine with several ties. Vines that are not secured well will lose a lot of product because they get heavy as they develop grapes and foliage. Take care not to damage any forming grape buds. They are easy to identify on the vine and look like little bumps on the smooth vines.
Tying also presents a good opportunity to replace older vines. If the large vines seem to be getting older and don’t have a lot of buds, it might be time to replace. You can connect a smaller baby vine, growing at the base of the plant to the wires with a longer piece of string. With time, this baby vine will mature into a thick, producing vine.
Middle Spring
Mowing
Mowing or brush chopping is important to do between rows because you want the vines to receive all the nutrients of the sun and rain, not competitive grasses and weeds. You’ll need to repeat mowing throughout the summer.
With summer, fall, and winter come more adventures in the vineyard. To be continued.
For more information on pest management and fertilizers see Michigan State University's extensions tips.
Christy Mroczek - Christy Mroczek is a Professor of English, specializing in business communication, design publication, and technical editing. She earned ...
