Terraced vineyard

[mdbarb]

another angle

 

[polecat]

wow talk about a lot of back breaking work...awesome job!!!
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifnow correct me if i'm wrong but is this the same prop. u r fighting to keep!!!??????? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
wow and jist looked at the plants...and the rock work!!! u have bin busy my friend!!!!!!!!

 

[mdbarb]

yes this is the same piece of property, yet another reason I do not want to bail on this.
BTW I have another interesting project just nearing completion. I'll see if I can bring pics tomorrow.

 

[Typhoon]

WOW!!! I cannot even imagine the hours of work you have in this project. I am still in shock about those rock walls... incredible.
You should be very proud.
-Brad

 

[EastTexFrank]

Man!!!!! That is beautiful but I'm afraid it way too much work for this tired ol' body. You should be very proud of it.

I haven't played with grapes or made wine for a long time. I gave up after my wife used my last batch to clean lime scale from the toilet bowls. I must admit that it was pretty bad but I had to drink it as a matter of principle. I was sssoooo glad when that lot was finished ... never tried it again.

 

[mdbarb]

I just got back from Hawaii and there were rock walls around every corner that put my vineyard to shame.
Some of them must have been 30 ft high and flatter than the walls in my living room . incredible.
no pics cuz the family couldnt understand why we should pull over to take a pic of some dumb old rock wall when we are going to the beach!
I saw them working at one job site - about 30 men shoulder to shoulder along the face of the wall all building it at once - would have love to watch and learn for awhile....

 

[polecat]

the rock walls when i lived in england were way to cool!!!!
and have stood for a couple 100 yrs too!!!!..roads are really deep to...have 10-20' hedges above on the sides...my gues is the foot and horse traffic b4 paved road came into existence wore them out!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[MuncyBob]

I know what you mean about the walls in UK.....really interesting country side....rock walls everywhere and hardly a straight road to be found...spent all my teenage years there and just wish I could have appreciated it then like I do now!...as they say, youth is wasted on the young!

 

[mdbarb]

Well almost three years from the initial post. I've planted, trained, pruned, sprayed etc etc .
This is the first year I let the vines fruit.
Had to deal with a bad case of powdery mildew.
Carefully monitored the sugar and PH then as the grapes were just about baby bear right for picking
I was totally wiped out by raccoons in one night
It must have been some party, I assume the raccoons are sleeping it off right now.
So now I have about a year to figure out how to prevent this from happening again.
Any suggestions?
I can't practically put an electric fence around the whole vineyard - but may put some up where I can - every little bit will help.
I can trap em but that's fighting the tide.
Plus I wonder how natures balance would tilt if suddenly all raccoons disappeared - probably some other equally harmful varmint would appear.

 

[jmc]

Well, if its any consolation, they do the exactly the same thing with sweet corn here in Indiana.

 

[Bully]

Can you keep a dog in the fenced area? our dog seems to be very quick to run the raccoons off. Gary

 

[Farwell]

I trap them using the catch, take them for a 5 mile ride and release them method. I think my trap is a Havaheart brand or something similar. I use dry cat food as bait. I made a thing to mount my trap on, it is made like a letter T out of 4x6 lumber. With the base of the T in the ground and the trap sitting on and fastened to the top of the T. Raccoons are very smart and very strong and will rip a flimsy trap apart. Last year was first year I tried and I caught 8. This year I only caught 2 and one was a sow very close to giving birth. I have not had any raccoon sign since the second one was caught in mid June. The next best thing is a good dog that lives outside.
Farwell

 

[Jim57]

I am a new member here and this is the first time I have seen this project. Let me be one of the late comers to Congratulate you on a "JOB WELL DONE". You have a gorgeous vineyard there. I see it has been a few years. How about posting a picture of it now?

Jim

 

[Tim_in_IA]

I vote for dogs. Get a couple good hounds and there wont be a coon in site. But then you'll have to put up a fence to keep the hounds in /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

 

[EastTexFrank]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> I can't practically put an electric fence around the whole vineyard </font> )</font>

Why not???? Even a small charger will run a line of 2 miles or so. That should be enough to go round the vineyard a couple of times at least and they're not too expensive. That's what I've decided to do for next year on my garden. For the first time, the deer and racoons have decimated it. The squirrels got every plum, peach, pear and apple on the trees. There are still some pecans but it's just a matter of time before they clear those out too. If I'd been a true redneck, I could have filled the freezer with deer meat. I did get a couple of racoons but it seemed as if some more moved in almost immediately so it's back to square one. If you throw in the armadillo that tearing up the yard, no I haven't caught it yet either, this has been the worst year ever for wildlife destroying stuff. Next year ... electric fence and let them FRY.

By the way, that's still a great looking project!!!!!!

 

[RalphVa]

Really a nice job. Guess you need the terracing in CA to capture and hold the rain you do get, sorta like putting a dam in and putting a rain garden in behind it. For the rest of you planning to do vineyards in places that get a more regular rainfall like here in VA, you would not terrace a slight slope unless it would help to provide access for equipment (e.g. easier to roll a wheelbarrow on level rather than sloping ground, etc.). I spaced my rows of fruit trees and grapes far enough apart down my slope to run a mower or bush hog in between. My grape vines are only in their 2nd year and aren't growing enough to train them to their first wire yet. Next year.

I've used an electric fence for 5 years powered by 12v battery around my garden down in a flood zone along the creek. It's worked really well to keep all varmits out. You can get a 12v solar panel that is used for the "Mule" gate at TSC. Been thinking about this for mine if one of my batteries ever gives out. It'll power up to 10 miles of fence. All you need are some sturdy posts (4x4s with insulators or just steel, drive-in posts) at the corner and plastic, push-in posts about every 15-20' along the sides (use the plastic posts outside the drive-in steel posts at the corners if you use these). TSC has these plastic posts.

Haven't figured out yet what I'll do about protection of the grape vines against the hooved rats. May run part of my electric fencing uphill and run fence around them. Right now, they're enclosed by little circular fences, because they're not running on the wires yet.

Ralph

 

[mdbarb]

I terraced for two reasons - easier to walk on and each row is above the previous to get full sun.
We don't get much rain during the growing season, it's all on drip irrigation - I water about once a week for two or three hours.
My vines are very robust - some reached the first wire in a couple of months and over the top wire easily by the end of the first year in the ground (of course bought plants that where babied in a nursery their first season)

I figured the elec. wire won't work as the are so many plants up against the fence and other obstacles to prevent a clear line. Can't think of anything else very effective so I may just have to force a clear line - I like the idea of the solar panel. I'll check into it. What is TSC?

 

[Tim_in_IA]

Just a tip on the solar. A wired charger will have more power and require less maintenance and be cheaper to operate (no batteries or panels to replace/maintain). Also if you are worried about load on the charger due to vegitaion be sure to get a low-impedance charger. They are designed to handle/tolerate vegitation better.

 

[fenneran]

mdbarb,
TSC = Tractor Supply Company

 

[dooleysm]

TSC, I believe, is Tractor Supply Company. May be that there aren't any in your neck of the woods. I imagine there's something similar with a different name.