What did you do in your orchard today?

[CrealCritter]

Persimmon jam

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

Great use of your "forgotten treasure"

 

[CrealCritter]

Found the honey bees that are pollinating my orchard. I have a fond affection for them.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[farmerjan]

Must be a great neighbor to be pollinating your garden/orchard/ flowers for "free"... any chance of getting some "local" ... literally .... honey too????

 

[CrealCritter]

Must be a great neighbor to be pollinating your garden/orchard/ flowers for "free"... any chance of getting some "local" ... literally .... honey too????

Absolutely we get local honey

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[The_Whippoorwhil]

Hello!! Does anyone here have grapes?? Me and my mother make a lot of grape jam but our plants haven't been doing the best. Anyway we are trying to judge when to prune them. Has anybody done theirs yet??

 

[CrealCritter]

Hello!! Does anyone here have grapes?? Me and my mother make a lot of grape jam but our plants haven't been doing the best. Anyway we are trying to judge when to prune them. Has anybody done theirs yet??

I started a grapevine this spring, the plan is to train to a 4 cane single trunk kniffin.

I'll do my first pruning probably in February but definitely before buds swell in March. It'll probably around the same time I collect scionwood from the orchard.

There are lots to training methods for grapes, it kind of depends on the variety and what you are training them to climb. @LaurenRitz could offer better advise that I could.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[flowerbug]

Hello!! Does anyone here have grapes?? Me and my mother make a lot of grape jam but our plants haven't been doing the best. Anyway we are trying to judge when to prune them. Has anybody done theirs yet??

the basics are to try to keep the vines within the space you have for growing them and then to figure out how to prune enough old wood off and leave enough new wood (first year wood is where the grape clusters will form) to keep giving a crop. the reference @CrealCritter will help, but keep reading up and looking if you need more. it is something you can learn given some time.

with an older established vine that has been neglected it may not be a project you can do in a single season to get a vine back under control and renovated to whatever system you want to use, so don't be afraid to take your time and learn on a section at a time and see how it goes. pretty much what i found out was that vines can usually survive a fairly heavy pruning, but don't do the entire thing in one season.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I started a grapevine this spring, the plan is to train to a 4 cane single trunk kniffin.
View attachment 27649
I'll do my first pruning probably in February but definitely before buds swell in March. It'll probably around the same time I collect scionwood from the orchard.

There are lots to training methods for grapes, it kind of depends on the variety and what you are training them to climb. @LaurenRitz could offer better advise that I could.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

I Have seen no significant difference in spring vs fall pruning. I just prune whenever I have time after the plants are fully dormant. The advantage to spring pruning is that you can tell where the buds are. Fall pruning you may get stems dying during the winter that you had intended to use, but the buds tend to break earlier because the plant hasn't spent all its energy on buds that get pruned off.

 

[CrealCritter]

I Have seen no significant difference in spring vs fall pruning. I just prune whenever I have time after the plants are fully dormant. The advantage to spring pruning is that you can tell where the buds are. Fall pruning you may get stems dying during the winter that you had intended to use, but the buds tend to break earlier because the plant hasn't spent all its energy on buds that get pruned off.

They are fully dormant now. All that green has turned to brown. Looking closely though, I see viable buds placed along the arms. I thought was rather encouraging to see. I baby sat those vines through 3 droughts. I'll most likely prune them in february to 1st year established and hope to see them wake up this spring.

Atleast I have some resemblance of a plan. That was the hardest part of grapes for me. So many training methods to choose from.

Jesus is Lord and Christ