A look at tonight's propagation wood

 

As the growing season approaches, it is time to start multiplying the number of vines we have. This is one way to do it.

We're out looking for propagation wood!

 

We were out uncovering our Beichun and Baltica vines, hoping to get cuttings for propagation (yardstick for scale). Baltica is a bit thin and Beichun is a bit short, but hopefully we'll get a few new plants anyway. We refilled the holes to protect the roots. No more deep cold in the forecast, but you never know. -20F on April 10th anyone? Not I!

2023 Grape Unboxing and Rooting Prep

 Preparations for the upcoming growing season have started. See what we're up to! 

Expanding the berry patch - plans for summer 2023

Ripening serviceberries (top); rooted aronia cuttings (bottom)

For the last 10 years, our intent has been to increase fruit production for fresh product and wine. It has taken most of that time to find what grows well and produces fruit that is in demand. We continue to work with currants, raspberries/blackberries, serviceberries, and honeyberries. Now that the most desirable varieties have been identified, emphasis has shifted to propagation. Some things, like currants, are very easy to propagate. Just stick a dormant cutting into the ground in early spring and keep watered. Others require a more complex approach and even then, they are hard to propagate. However, we have been experimenting with the use of peroxide and water to encourage root formation on cuttings that appears to have some promise. We successfully rooted aronia cuttings last summer using this method and look forward to trying it with honeyberries and serviceberries this coming summer.

We already have enough serviceberry bushes for a decent harvest, however they are not in the best location. Next summer should be an opportune time to move about 12 Northline serviceberries to the food forest and also propagate more. This variety remains relatively small and compact, making it easier to harvest the full crop while standing on the ground. Not to mention its size will make it easier to drape bird netting over to protect the crop from hungry critters. Another variety on the farm is Smoky. This variety can get quite tall and can form a living fence to trap snow before it forms drifts on our road. We are looking forward to its dual purpose!

Our blackberry patch has been neglected for several years while our attention has been focused on developing a vineyard. We desperately need to reinvigorate the blackberry patch! We are somewhat concerned because it was cold for a few weeks with very little snow cover in late October and early November of last year. This could have damaged the crowns on our Wild Treasure, even though they were covered by frost blankets. While it is unlikely that our largest Wild Treasure will be killed outright by the cold, there could be enough crown damage to delay new growth in the spring by several weeks.

Wild Treasure is one variety that we really need to propagate to get a decent amount of production. Winter cold results in quite a bit of damage, and greatly reduces production. We continue to experiment with different overwintering techniques in hopes of finding one that offers more winter protection. While we were out covering them this fall, we pulled one cane out of the ground that had tip-rooted. It is not uncommon for the canes on Wild Treasure to force themselves into the ground and begin forming a crown. These never survive the winter, as they do not form mature crowns by the end of summer. Out of curiosity, we cut that tip off (with about 12 inches of cane) and potted it up inside. It still has green leaves, so we are hopeful that it will successfully root and form a crown. We have tried rooting green cuttings in the past, but they usually just rot and never form roots. Instead, if we let the plants naturally tip-root, we can let the plant do the difficult work of producing roots on a green cane. Then we can cut off the starts, pot them up, and bring them inside to over winter. This method could yield a large number of new plants in a short period of time.

Several years ago, we received a couple of wild-seedling aronia bushes in the mail. Since that time, one has really stood out as a strong grower and producer – even with our cold soils. This year the berries were quite plump and much sweeter than our named cultivars. Aronia really need to stay on the bush until the first frost to make sure they are ripe. Unfortunately, the birds really like these (just what berries do they not like on the farm?) once they start ripening up. We picked about a cup of aronia berries off this bush and have been snacking on them for a couple of months. Aronia bushes also put on quite a fall display with orange and red leaves that add visual interest around the farm. We experimented, quite successfully, with rooting aronia cuttings in peroxide and water last summer. So, we will repeat the process on more cuttings next summer to increase our stock of aronia bushes.

Next summer looks to be quite busy between expanding the vineyard terraces, growing flowers to sell, and propagating fruit bushes. We will also be focused on removing the thousands of saplings that have taken over a large portion of the lot and establishing a manageable grass cover. So much to do and so little time!

Is it colder above or below the snow? A quick mid-winter update

We were out on the terraces today checking on the the soil temperatures at 8 inches (20 cm) and 16 inches (40 cm) depth. While the air temperature was in the mid 20s Fahrenheit (-3 C), there is concern that another long cold spell could push the soil temperature below what is tolerated by some of our grapevine varieties. Even after piling more snow on the terrace around the soil temperature probes, there hasn't been much of a rise in temperature.

Stay tuned for more winter updates!

The 2022 Season - moving grapevines

 

Another year in the books, as they say. We were very focused this season on relocating the vineyard. After discovering that terraces greatly increase the soil temperature on hillsides here in Interior Alaska, we began planning how to move our 150 or so grapevines from their field location to a series of terraces we had built a number of years ago. Those terraces had been planted with currants, gooseberries, and peonies within the last decade. Since that time, the terraces have begun to slump and we kind of ignored them other than in the fall during currant and gooseberry harvest. The peonies did not like that location from the very beginning. While the soil was much warmer, it was also rockier – and that tended to damage the delicate flower buds peonies are known for. So, why not repurpose the terraces!

 

Starting as soon as the snow melted, we began pulling hundreds of willow, alder, birch, and poplar saplings from the terraces. We targeted the top two terraces for planting this year. We hope to double that number next year, but there are so many saplings that it is slow going. By late summer, we had augered the post holes for the trellises on both terraces and had begun planting vines. We were able to fit 20 vines on each terrace, spaced 6 ft (2 m) apart in the row. The terraces are 7 ft (2.2 m) wide and about 30 inches (0.75 m) tall at the nose. With these dimensions, the terraces intercept quite a bit of sunlight during the early summer, with soil temperatures reaching 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit (25-30 C) by early July at a depth of 8 inches (20 cm). That may not sound unusual, but here in the cold north, the normal temperature at that depth mid-summer is about 50 Fahrenheit (10 C). In fact, as part of our ongoing experiment with grapevines on the terraces, we dug holes for every potted vine and left them in the holes for almost the entire summer. The difference in root growth and plant vigor between the terraces and the field was quite obvious.

 

By the end of September, we had installed the posts and the vines were hardening off quite nicely for winter (see picture above). Our first freeze came on October 9^th, about 2 weeks later than expected. What we discovered next was a bit surprising. We had installed two thermometers on the second terrace the previous summer and noticed over last winter, the temperature at 8 inches (20 cm) never dropped much below 30 F (-1C). However, this year fall was on the dry side, with little snow falling until mid-November. That combined with air temps below freezing for extended periods of time quickly removed any remaining summer heat and the soil temperature at 8 inches (20 cm) dropped to 17F (-8 C) by the end of November. Grapevine roots of some species are rather sensitive to cold, with Vitis vinifera suffering substantial injury or death below about 23F (-5 C). Other vines we have, including pure V. riparia and V. amurensis, have much hardier roots and should not be injured at this temperature. This finding does suggest a limit to the use of terraces on the farm for growing cold tender plants. And we are not out of the woods yet. As of today, the terraces have again dropped below 20 F (-7 C) due to a recent cold spell. We will find out next spring which vines are more susceptible to root damage!

 

Speaking of peonies, we continue to move them from the terraces and other raised beds we have to a larger field location. Currently, we have about 700 planted out in the field with varying degrees of success. To augment the peonies, we upped our production of other flowers this year, selling to a local florist throughout the summer months. Next year we plan to double or triple our flower production as we open up more areas to plant them. The major issue with expansion continues to be the lack of water. Our 2000 gallons (7560 l) of water we capture from melting snow in the spring goes quickly, and it is usually early August before the summer rains arrive. We will likely be hauling water in to supplement.

 

Next year may also be the last year we hold our annual plant sale. This will be our 15^th May plant sale and if the recent trend of decreasing sales holds, it will not be economically feasible going forward. We started the plant sale in 2009 as an early season source of income for the farm, but the timing has always interfered with the completion of other important chores. Moreover, with the increase in flower production, we will need more indoor space for flower seedlings – and there isn’t much space to begin with. So, something has to go. Shifting away from growing seedlings for the plant sale will allow us to focus on flower sales and our ultimate goal of making wine from the vineyard. Somewhere in between, we need to drill a well!

 

The short-term forecast is for a pretty chilly January and early February, but a nice warm up in March and April. Then it will be time to check in on the vineyard terraces to see which vines survived and which ones will need to be replaced. Stay tuned!

Spring 2022 Farm Tour

Spring is about to wipe out our 30-inch snowpack, so we thought we'd take a tour from above the snow. We have high hopes for a number of trials/experiments we are/have been running, including playing with some wild Vitis riparia cuttings from northeastern Montana and North Dakota that show some promise in overwintering new growth - exciting! Enjoy.