Author: mcontois

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August 4, 2020 Grapes are at or near veraison in Vermont vineyards, which signals the start of fruit ripening. This is an important time of year for a few activities. First, bird damage can be expected to begin and increase as fruit ripen. Birds will harvest your berries just a day or two before you’re…

Vineyard Management at Bloom

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June 17, 2020 I’ve visited some vineyards from the higher-elevation interior of the state to the Champlain Valley in the past week. Champlain Valley grapes are entering or even well-into bloom, upland and inland are around 5” shoot growth stage. Bothe are at key management points, so it’s best to spend some time in the…

Pre-Harvest Juice Testing For Ripeness

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August 30, 2020 Heat accumulation is up overall this year, and we are about ten days ahead of ‘normal’ in South Burlington. As harvest approaches, it’s important to keep and eye on three important parameters of juice chemistry: soluble solids (sugar), pH, and titratable acidity. These values should be checked at least weekly against your…

Early Summer Vineyard Management

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June 29, 2020 July 1 brings a number of early summer vineyard tasks to think about. First, be sure to keep up with your disease management: sanitation, especially in organic vineyards, and sprays as needed. We’re still in that critical window where all or the main diseases (except maybe Phomopsis) are active. See our initial…

Vineyard Management

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June 7, 2020 First, sorry about lumping the grape growers in with my last apple email. I do know that you’re (mostly) separate entities with separate needs. That said, the importance of staying on top of disease management now is just as much there. We’re entering the critical immediate prebloom period in vineyards, when they…

Vermont Orchard Rundown

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June 7, 2020 I had a chance to visit some orchards late last week in Southern Vermont. We should remember that the lower Connecticut River Valley has traditionally been a major center of apple and peach production in the state. While there are fewer acres of trees than in the past, that’s true across the…

Seeking Information: 2020 Perennial Crop Losses

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June 3, 2020 Hello: I have been asked by the USDA Risk Management Agency for information on potential weather-related losses of perennial crops in Vermont in 2020. This is not a system to report insurable losses. If you have a loss, be sure to contact your insurer asap. Rather, this is a high-level assessment of…

Orchard Considerations: Scab (yes…), Fire Blight, Insect Management

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June 17, 2020 It’s dry, I know. If you have the ability to irrigate, you should be. At a minimum, newly planted trees should be watered regularly. This dry weather has been great for management of most diseases- apple scab, plus rusts and some of the other ‘minor’ diseases should be pretty low in abundance…

Midsummer Orchard Activities

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July 15, 2020 It’s been a while since our last check-in. One of the things I was surprised by when I started in orchard work was the relative slowdown in urgency after July 1. Having grown up on a dairy farm, where there’s no break, and summer means haying season on top of all the…

Important: VT Pick-Your-Own Webinar & Farmer Forum

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