Muns
Vineyard
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In April, all the vines planted the previous summer were "2-budded", or pruned back to the first two buds above the graft. Grow tubes were installed in May-June and the weaker of the two shoots was pruned off. The areas between vine rows was mowed and disked. In early June, all the dead vines from the 1998 planting were replaced with 115/3309 green-growing plants from Duarte Nurseries. A major investment was made during May in the form of a brand new Italian vineyard tractor. It is a Same Explorer 90 Turbo crawler with several implements: Falc 6' flail mower, Domries 6-7' tandem disk, Perfecta II 7' disk harrow, Schneider 6' seed drill, 6' box scraper, 8' dozer blade and 6' front-end loader. It has been indispensable for working the vineyard, maintaining roads and clearing brush and rocks. In late June, preparation began on the 5th block to be planted with 777/420A vines from Caldwell Nursery in Napa. Planting actually began on the 4th of July and continued on until 22 October with 741 new plants in the ground. This was only enough to complete about 70% of this block. The remainder will be planted in 2000 along with a 6th block. In November, a cover crop mixture of clovers, legumes and grasses was expected to be planted to control erosion from Winter rains and to provide nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil for next year's growth. But, alas, the rain came before the seed drilling occurred so native grasses and the crimson clover from 1998 will have to suffice. Also, preparation continued for the 1,900 vines scheduled for planting in June 2000. |
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