What to worry about now

Vintage 2014 has been a great season up to date. Sure there’s been more wind than usual, and had some showers over last weekend, but all in all it has been a great season so far. If all goes as planned, harvest will be two to three weeks ahead of a normal year. Our main job now is to sit and wait.

So what problems in the vineyards do we worry about while we are waiting?

Our main concerns this time of year are predators. For the same reason we like wine grapes (sugar), so do birds, turkeys, deer and pigs. Even though pigs and deer can be a problem throughout the season, birds are our main focus weeks before the harvest.

You will notice in the next few weeks, the shiny Mylar tape sparkling in the wind.

This is our main defense against our feathered friends. The concept is a simple one, and does not hurt the birds. Mylar tape is applied throughout the vineyard and is red on one side and shiny aluminum on the other. When the wind moves it around, it sparkles and scares the birds away from our precious grapes.

Some vineyards, due to a high population of trees around the perimeters, need to be covered with bird netting. Some of these vineyards keep the bird netting rolled up under the fruit zone all year, then unroll it to cover only the fruit zone before harvest. Most remove the netting every year and apply it using a tractor and some willing participants to throw it over the entire plant. This is an expensive endeavor, and is only used where needed

Two other defenses are the zon gun, which makes a boom-sound when propane is ignited in its barrel and sounds like a shotgun blast. These work great, but may not be the best neighbor-friendly option. The other is a sound system that plays sounds in the vineyard.  This machine mimics the sounds of the grape eating bird’s predators.  These are very effective and like the zon guns are on timers that shut them off at night because birds do not eat grapes at night.

Normally we begin all these tasks when the grapes reach the optimal brix (sugar) level, around 20, which is three to four weeks prior to harvest.  Harvest is about six weeks away, and we are getting ready.