The weekend to plant the vines finally arrived! The vines arrived in excellent condition from Double A Vineyards in NY on Thursday. 

On Saturday I ran trellis wire on the Mid Wire Cordon and Top Wire Cordon trellises. My Geneva Double Curtain trellis for the Norton will have to be re-engineered since the cross arms bent when the 300 pounds of pressure required was too much for them to handle. 

I also soaked the roots of the vines overnight in a solution of water and seaweed (kelp) to wake them from dormancy.

Our son Matt came up Sunday to help with the labor, and we had a good day and got all 24 vines planted.

The Chambourcin and Chardonnel vines were then pruned back to 3- 4 buds and the Blue-X grow tubes were installed. From the Double-A website: BLUE-X Vine Shelters create a beneficial micro climate inside the shelter for each vine with increased humidity, higher CO2 levels, reduced drying and mechanical damage caused by the wind, reduction of harmful UV light and beneficial blue light effect.

One Moss Agate stone was planted with each vine. According to CrystalVaults.com “As a stone of abundance, Moss Agate is known for its benefits in agricultural pursuits and has been successful in promoting the growth of new crops. Planted in a pot or flower bed, it increases the overall health of plants.”

I also installed one of my Birthday gifts – an Accu-Rite weather station. This unit is amazing – measuring wind direction, wind speed, humidity, temperature, rainfall etc. It will even predict the upcoming weather and has settable storm alerts. The unit in the vineyard wirelessly communicates with a tablet sized display unit inside the Cabin. Awesome.

Now it’s up to Mother Nature. We have done all the preparation we could. We have lovingly planted the vines and prayed for them. We put the vines in her care.