update from the Chicago vines - photos Wed Feb 9, 2011

I am well over a week late with these photos, but I am putting them up anyway. Here are a few photographs of the vines I have planted in Chicago. I took the photos on Wed Feb 9, 2011. Check, check, check them out!

(Syrah Grape vine I - 2009. This is the vine that I knew was going to give me hope last spring. When I saw the buds bursting, I was ecstatic. Actually, in the ground it was still simply just a woody, bark-like grape vine cutting, and the little fella made it through a harsh Chicago winter. I just couldn't believe the potential of these vines until this one showed what possibilities existed. Absolutely, this is not the right vine for the climate, but I don't care. What I am learning now, I will take with me into my future endeavors elsewhere - whether it be as a hobby grower, or as a gainfully employed worker at a vineyard outside of Healdsburg, California, or anywhere else along HWY 101. I was actually forgetful about how large I allowed this vine to grow - for better or worse. I took this still photo and I also took a video on the 9th of Feb 2011. Stepping back a bit, I feel very much that I am in a better place with this vine being the way it is now, as sprawled out as it is, compared to last February 2010. My intention, as I have made clear on this blog, is to extract cuttings from this vine when I prune it. Pruning this vine will occur Monday Feb 28, 2011. Super-excited is the word, folks.)

(Syrah grape vine II 2009. This was the surprising vine. It shocked me to all get-out when I realized something was actually growing where I had planted it in September 2009. And true to form, given that it is Vinifera, this cutting didn't really start growing until about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks after Syrah I. The day I learned it pulled out of winter, I was so overjoyed my neighbor above me thought I was so strange for my enthusiasm over a young cutting pulling through a Chicago winter. I remember when I planted these vines, I didn't know a thing about how to proceed, about placement, climate, or what else to consider, etc. All I knew was that I had ordered Syrah cuttings on EBay - sounds like a terrible idea, doesn't it(it was all based on the success of the 2008 growing season)? I grew the cuttings in the apartment, all 6 of them, and all six of them did very well. I knew I had to get them in the ground. I didn't realize fully why. Anyway, only 40 inches away to the east (another really bad idea) I had another stronger Syrah cutting planted in the ground. The stronger vine seemed to be doing really well at the start of the 2010 growing season, but then it fell victim to wind damage - maybe even some Canine damage, as it was very tender despite being the one of the strongest of the 6 cuttings as I raised them inside the apartment.

(Mars Seedless grape vine. Last year it's growth was greatly stunted by being too near a rat hole. When the city of Chicago came in the yard to put down rat poison, it clearly affected the vine. It was planted in Sept 2009, during the spring of 2010 the vine had tremendous growth and progress. I bought it from a Lowe's hardware store off of Touhy Avenue in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Then it was all "shot to hell...", as my family is fond of reporting, once the city of Chicago Rat/Pest Control Department came in to engage the rats living just on the other side of the fence between my neighbor and my apartment's yard.)

(Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine. One of the first pair that myself, my roommate, and my neighbor downstairs planted. These vines were started from cuttings that were a result of pruning the original Cabernet Sauvignon vine in St. Louis last Feb 2010. When my roommate and I planted these, we were amazed at how fast roots grew from this cutting (the roots encircled the bottoms of the flower pots by the time we planted them in actual soil). This vine and its sibling grew amazingly well in the apartment while resting in soil in a measly flower pot. Planting these was a crazy idea and is still a long shot. This area is, however, the best place for sunlight during the summer months.)

(This is clearly another Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine. This is the second half of the story mentioned above. Also a very hardy cutting, apparently, and it simply took off in the apartment. It will not get great airflow while abutted to the exterior wall of my brick apartment building. But it still won't stop me from growing vines here. To be redundant, if you come upon grape vine cuttings in late February, just go ahead and gamble and put them in a flower pot and see if they do anything in 12 weeks time. There is nothing to lose.)

(Another Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine and a very strong vine at that. I probably planted this in late July or early August 2010. This vine won't do too great because of where it is situated. The soil is quite good, it won't get enough sun, though. The reason for my planting it was because I had too many cuttings and I had to do something with them before the weather started to get cold. Having done so much nursing and coddling of these cuttings while trying to get them started in the apartment during the springtime, I didn't want to see my roommate and I's efforts be for naught. I also wanted this vine to have more time to get acclimated to the soil, than vines I had hastily planted in the past. My aim was to plant it about 5 weeks earlier than I did the previous year with planting the Mars Seedless grape vine in September 2009. I am definitely looking forward to measure its relative growth to the Mars Seedless. As I indicated above, the Mars Seedless pulled out of the winter of 2009/2010 and had an exceptional start to the growing season until the arrival of the rat poison - the poison was desperately needed, though. There seemed to be a shanty town developing down in that rat hole every time I looked near it.

After writing these little blurbs, it came upon me that this is my 4th growing season with grape vines. Amazing. The first two Cabernet Sauvignon grape vine cuttings went into the ground in March 2008 in St. Louis, Missouri.

See you soon!