Vineyard Pests!!!! - er,...this is where it gets good -

Doing alot of updating on the vines in St. Louis, Missouri. Things are great. Went for a journey into the city with a good buddy of mine, noted plenty of re-development all throughout south St. Louis (not by 'Peppers' south-side bar on Gravois). I only mean south of Olive Blvd and areas southwest of that region, east of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Anyway, I tried to look again for the pesky Japanese Beetle. Instead I discovered an infestation by what appear to be a kind of Aphid. I have photos to accompany this posting.

The first photograph really sets the stage. I had seen this yesterday when I visited the vine for the first time since March 2010. The first photo displays the end result of what I think is the product of what the bugs in the following photos achieve after dining on a 7 course meal on the grape vine with their friends, families, and the one dude they drank beers with the night before, who also just happened to crash on the couch: he's the kind of person you can't shake with a clean conscience, once you learn more about how far he is gone.  And, as with most short-term acquaintances, there is a certain charm to any human that thinks and acts in a strange, unusual way.  He doesn't do too well at any of the eateries along Division Street just east of Damen Avenue and west of Damen Avenue where all of the copies congregate, talking shapes, sizes, measurements......that's a tangent entirely unrelated to grape vines.




These bugs resemble the size of Aphids. I didn't spy any ladybugs around to counter with an attack. Actually, I kind of expected to see this kind of situation on my Fava Beans in Chicago, IL, not on the grape vine in St. Louis. Either way, this is a good experience. The jury is still out for this household. Surely there is one option of spraying Sevin dust on the vine from Ortho. I just don't want to go there if I can avoid doing so. We took the steps of cutting out as much of the vine that had the infestation as possible (all of which was actually outside of the bird netting, strangely enough and/or convenient, too). By doing this, I actually expect the existing grape clusters to receive greater nutrition from what used to go to the vines that we trimmed. In trimming we were able to fill up a 5-gallon bucket of cuttings. I also lopped a nearly 28 inch long green cutting. Just amazing things have happened to this vine in the past four months. Remarkable.

Either way, Chicago has about 45 heat days left before September 1 2010. For St. Louis, I would wager that they have about 55-60 actual heat days left in their growing season. I might be way off the mark in my estimation here. No matter, when I consider my outdoor vines in Chicago, both of which are Syrah vines that were planted in the soil around Sept 1 2009, and in consideration of how much they have grown in the past 3 weeks, I think I will have a nice sampling as the autumn weather begins to encroach and visit itself upon the Upper Midwest around Chicagoland.

Part of my excitement is that the Syrah vines that are now green will begin to undergo the process of becoming wood-like (I would imagine I'll learn what this process will be called properly when school begins).  As I indicated in the previous two posts, the wood on the Cabernet Sauvignon vine in St. Louis is beautiful and reveals weathering and maturing.

Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2010 St. Louis???????

That headline tells the story.

Upon arrival at my parents' backyard, dare I say (vineyard?), my mom informed me of two success stories. Let's look at the photos.

This photo above is a snap of a very young vine from my parents' backyard. The story is that my mom dug out some Peonys from just north of the existing Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008 vine. There was nothing planted there in March 2008 during the planting of the original 2 vines, I planted the 2nd vine cutting just south of the site of the now live Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008 St. Louis. In going through the flower bed by the garage this past weekend, which is where my mom re-planted the Peonys that were originally under the shady grapevine, my mom came across something that seemed to resemble a vine with leaves that were very, very familiar to her. After pulling out weeds from the garage flower bed, it was determined by my mom and my brother that, indeed, it was a grape vine. I have no idea how this happened, they have no idea how this happened. Did my mom grab some grape vine roots in the process of pulling the Peonys out of their original bedding? I haven't the experience to suggest one way or the other as I have not propagated grape vines using such a method prior. Regardless, this is an unexpected birthing of a vine that did not exist when the Peonys were transferred. Here we have Cabernet Sauvignon 02-2010 St. Louis!!!!


This photo above reveals a vine cutting that I just took a chance with around the time of March 10 2010. I remember this because I came back to St. Louis for a funeral during that time. When I the original Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008 St. Louis vine was pruned on 02/26/10 we kept a few cuttings with the notion of possibly planting a few to see if they would take off (I took nearly 15 cuttings to Chicago, IL). The photo reveals what resulted from my just simply taking a gamble and putting two vine cuttings into the ground around March 10 2010 to see if they would take off on their own. I did this experiment because if cuttings can take off in flower pots inside my apartment in Chicago, IL during the month of March (still a pretty chilly month in that region - think air leaking through windows, sun still at a southern slant, etc.), then surely they can grow if actually put directly into soil (novel idea, eh?). And here is what we have, a real vine actually growing 4 months and 2 days later. Here I present Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2010 St. Louis.

It's all madness.

Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008 St. Louis Missouri

I am on-location at the site of the original Cabernet Sauvignon vine, at my folks' place in St. Louis, MO.  I have a few nice photos and more funny news about the vine(s).  Vines?  "I thought it was only 1 vine from what you shared in previous posts?", the reader might ask.  .......more to come. Pay attention.

Everything featured above in a photographic medium is from the original vine planted in March 2008 (Cabernet Sauvignon 01-2008). Of course it is not well-kempt. This is, after all, the story of a guy trying to figure out how to establish a vineyard from just one vine. Lessons, lessons, lessons. I can only hope that I'll learn as much as I can. Which, by the way, is a nice segue for another bit of news. I am enrolled in a Viticulture Certificate program in a local community college to get some lessons about growing the vines, caring after them, learning everything else I can't even pretend to predict, and to further go into debt. BUT!!!!!! It is all to seize better control of my life and to situate mineself in a setting where I can be fully engaged in job/work kinds of stuff (the material that eats up nearly 52 hours of our weeks, every week - the math is: 52 weeks times 52 hours produces a total of 2,704 hours a year that we spend consumed with work - I added 12 hours to figure in travel times 52-12=40 hrs a week, for citizens of cities as crowded as Chicago you might wish to add upwards of 15-18 hours for commuting if the train doesn't help you all too well).

Anyway, if I am going to work 2,704 hours a year at a place that pays me, I realized that I want to be engaged in activities that I believe in. Life is moving along unexpectedly swift in manner. It's all process, just like these vines.

There are a couple of photos of note. The one photo has the author of the blog standing against the vine, it clearly reveals how tall this vine has gotten. When this vine was pruned on Friday Feb 26, 2010 with my mom and my cousin Mike, the assumption was that the vine would be in better shape. It is better than last year and seems better managed but next Feb 2011 the vine is definitely going under the saw, as it were, to get it to be more cruciform-like.

Also, look at the beautiful wood of the vine, there are a few photos that reveal how mature the vine is getting. Remember, this vine is only 3 years-old. And another item to put in is that when I took the photos yesterday I was trying to spy a few Japanese Beetles, but to no avail. Where are those pesky varmints? Some other bug is clearly getting a meal or two on the leaves, and that can be seen quite clearly in the photography. The star of the show is really my family as they care after this lovely beast with the tending, the watering, the clipping, the bird-netting, etc. My little niece is consumed with quality control as I hear she sneaks a grape every time she stops by to visit grandma and grandpa: the grapes weren't too delectable this weekend, she reports.

just have to begin, again, sometime

Hey Everyone.

I know LOADS  of faithful readers are enjoying this blogulation.  Anyway.  I have some experience to share.  If you find yourself in a situation where you are trying to grow grape vines from cuttings.  And if that situation involves a slow pain-staking process (Meaning:  the vines don't get enough of what is often called 'heat days').  And, if in that situation, one realizes that either the canine or the wind knocks off the top shoot of said vine(s)................Fear not!  However, expect that it will set the vine back in what would have been its potential growth by 4 to 5 weeks. 

The vines will grow, though.  Don't be disheartened. 

Also, another bud break today on a cutting from my parents' Cabernet Sauvignon vine that I pruned in late Feb 2010.  Also, lost a few starts from a Syrah and a Cabernet Sauv cutting.  No matter, these are all good lessons.

Transitioning here folks, in many ways.  Played my last show tonight with one of my bands.  That is out of the way.  Celebrated with a glass of 2-week old Merlot from that Wal-Mart brand bottle costing only $2.99.  I was outside with glass in hand as I mindlessly watered the flowers outside from about 2:05AM until after 3AM.  The first bird sound was at 2:58AM, just so you are aware.  I believe it was the sound of a Robin, across the street in one of the younger maples.  Not certain.  Just a best guess.

Out.   ..........I told you, I needed to start back sometime. 

See you soon with loads of photographs.