Saturday, August 10, 2013

A safety net.

Today, Vinomaker and I performed a tedious, but necessary vineyard operation - we installed bird netting on the ripening Pinot grigio vines.  No offence to my feathered friends, but the wine grapes are off limits to them for snacking, especially when there is about half an acre of blackberries they could be gorging themselves on.  Veraison is proceeding nicely and the crop looks like it's going to be a good size.  The grapes are safe, until harvest.

7 comments:

Thomas said...

Netting doesn't mean a thing to New York birds--my cherry tree proves it. I'm going to beat the birds to it one of these days.

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Thomas, which birds are the culprits?

Vinogirl, did you do the netting alone or did you need help?

Vinogirl said...

Tomasso: Well, you may not have a cherry crop this year, but you do
have very happy birds.

NHW: Defo needed help with putting up the netting (thank you Vinomaker), but once it was up I was on my own (well, alone except for several hundred clothes pegs).

Thomas said...

Dennis:

It seems that an all=points goes out as soon as the fruit nears maturity. The tiniest birds make it into the nets but cardinals seem to find a way. The worst part is that they rub it in by shitting all over my car in glorious color!

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Thomas, get-out the car wax! That reminds me, I've got to do my car too. I cheat with a "wet & dry" wax; just after washing, spray-on, wipe-off.

About Last Weekend said...

Funny - I was wondering the other day hw vintners keep the birds away... I guess a scarecrow doesn't cut it these days?

Vinogirl said...

ALW: Well, you really can't net a large vineyard, wouldn't be practical or affordable. But if you do have a large vineyard you can afford to lose some grapes to our feathered friends.