It was now June. The vines were pushing their first few buds, with the Marquette taking off exceptionally well. Things were going well, that is until we realized we were in the midst of a drought. When we first planted the vines, we had used garden hoses to water each individual plant when needed, but we were getting ready for a small family trip. With a small drought coming unexpected, the pressure was on Matt once again to take care of the vineyard, and with only four days before we left for our vacation.
Matt quickly designed an irrigation system using Dig Corporation’s Drip Irrigation. We ordered it right away, and the day before we left, Matt was outside digging a trench along the end posts. We shallow buried the main line and stemmed lines, with a shutoff, that ran down each row individually. We irrigated that night and left the next day where the vines would be hydrated and safe.
But like with anything, when you put out one fire, another one starts. This fire was the infamous white-tailed deer. By mid June, our Marquette was weeks ahead of the other vines, and we weren’t the only ones to notice. The previous night, I was out there helping Matt wrap the vineyard in deer netting. We left a section open in the back because Matt had a little more work to do the next morning. Boy was that a mistake… The deer discovered our newly planted vines and walked in through the open section and proceeded to eat all the new growth on our Marquette grapes, setting them back a month in progress. We were devastated to say the least. After doing some research, we found out that luckily the deer didn’t kill the plants. The next day, Matt finished up the work left in the vineyard and closed up the fencing. We vowed that we will ALWAYS keep the fencing closed and double/triple check it every night. Figures, our winery named after the state animal, would be the same animal to try and destroy our wine.
Our vineyard battles were just beginning. As July rolled around, it was time for the Japanese Beetles to find their new home. A battle that would last for months. We want our vineyard to be as pure as possible, so pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are off the table. The first few weeks, we tried a mixture of water, neem oil, and Meyer’s dish soap, but found it to be overall ineffective. Matt would take time every other day, to go out and physically pick the beetles off each vine, one by one. At least Matt would have some help this time, Declan and Ronan loved helping Daddy search for the beetles to help save our vines. Eventually the beetles numbers dwindled, and stopped entirely when the Assassin Bugs moved in.
