SEGMENT: FARMING METHODS
Edward Russell>ISM Interviews M-Z>ISM Interviews M-Z, Segment 7
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- FARMING METHODS
- Plants are dormant in the winter, loses its leaves. It's fruiting shoots remain. Cut off so many fruiting shoots and some remain for next year. Clean up cuttings. In Spring (mid-April) the buds start to swell and grow leaves. New fruiting shoots flower, grapes form into clusters and grow. Begin spraying pesticides for black rot. Use GDC System of Two Wire System to clean out the fruiting shoots. Keep the trunks clean. Put down herbicides. Continue spray program. Ideally, a fruiting shoot has thirteen leaves per cluster of grapes. A few weeks before harvest, pick a random selection of 100 to 200 berries. Run sugar tests and tests for acidity, lower is better. After harvest, you process your juice and turn it into wine. Post-harvest spray the vineyard. 18 to 20 sprays a year at $600 to $800 a spray. Botrytis is a rot that infects the grapes. He has never had problems with any crop diseases. Spray to prevent, not to fix. First use Abound, which is a fungicide. Next week use Pristine, also a fungicide. At the beginning of the year, use Pencozeb which fights bunch rot. Then use Nova, Sevin, or Danitol. The vingole or tight clusters of grapes that he sprays with Elevate. Cannot use Pristine on Concords. Don't use the same sprays over and over or the plants become immune to them. Went to school to become a licensed applicator. Some sprays you have to be licensed or they won't sell them to you. Maintain record of sprays used, what plants are sprayed, weather on day of spraying, so you don't forget what sprays you have used, or if it damages your neighbors crop.
