Water 4 hrs drip

Our first full measurement on the grapes!

They are:

* Brix: 19
* pH: 3.2
* TA: 9.5

Decided to give the vines 4 hrs drip on the top and bottom rows (1-3 and 7-9).

Possible Potassium Problem

In the 'let's water a bit more' spirit, decided to give the grapes another dose of water (4 hrs drip) . In looking through the vines, I noticed a very unique leaf patter - not straight-up dry, but a weird coloration / drying pattern. Referring to my trusty UCD guide, it looks kinda like potassium deficiency. More investigating and soil ammendments to come post-harvest.

Vines in Mid-August

Starting to look dry and a bit tired; normal but thinking of upping the water a bit, so let the drip go for 6 hrs overnight after netting.

Desperate birds

Yikes! It looks like the birds have gotten a head start on sampling the grapes. Weird, I thought they waited until JUST before they're ripe. In any case, we figured we better put out some of the nets; were hoping to do that later in the month but I'd rather get a few out now and not loose the entire crop. On a side note, we haven't been putting out the hummingbird feeders, which are supposed to help keep other birds out (to some extent). Note for next year = attract hummingbirds! Even if it doesn't really make a difference, it's just plain neat-o anyway.

Tight clusters

Finally, after years of half-munched, half-dried out, half-absent grapes, we have a few clusters that are nice and dense. I don't care so much how they look as how they taste, but it's good to see our grapes are starting to look fuller and healthier (we think!)

Vines around Veraison

If I remember correctly, this may be one of the last seasonal Stylet Oil Sprays, so I'm giving 'em a good spray - well, only 1% concentration but very thorough coverage. Note to myself: rows 9-4 top done; rest throughout the week.

70% Veraison

It's early August and suddenly we have purple grapes! Seemed sudden but that might simply be my perception this year. We're at about 70%, which means 70% of the grapes on the hill are purple, the other 30% are still green or green-ish. We decided to give the grapes some water again yesterday (deep soaking), and will probably start reducing the amount they get from here out.