Fence Repair

The greenhouse was built in around 2004 and the fence behind the greenhouse was re-installed shortly thereafter. Lisa and I built it, but we reused some of the posts from the original back fence. In one spot of the fence, four of those posts had rotted at the ground line. The repair made a nice fall project. 

Half-round fence posts are difficult to come by around here. Last time we did fence repair we found them at a Rural King store in Warrenton. Fortunately I had 4 left so we didn't have to make another trip. 

Other than the posts, we reused existing boards. It's not perfect but it's good enough. 

Sunrise in the fall can be pretty nice.

A Greenhouse Record

The normal fall sequence of events is we wait until frost is imminent in early October, scramble to push everything inside and back into the greenhouse. But because a single layer of tempered glass doesn't keep it warm enough for tropical plants through a Missouri winter, an extra layer of poly film is needed. When it gets really cold in November, we painstakingly wrestle with ladders and wrangle the extra poly film over and around all of the plants, usually with plenty of swearing. Often, tall children are employed. 

This year we're trying something different. Nothing has gone back into the greenhouse yet. Arguably some plants should, as we've had lows in the upper 40s a couple of nights now. But this weekend we decided to try getting the poly up early. This has the advantage of allowing better movement of people and ladders. It worked well. In fact, no children were used in the application of the 2020 poly film, and it's up earlier than ever. 

2020 Wines - Chapter 4 - Frontenac

 As with Foch, the Frontenac yield was low this year. We pulled in 87#, less than half of last year. It's another high TA, high pH wine. Crush and destemming yielded 8.8g of must, with TA crazy high at 22, pH 2.80. Double salt technique with 175g calcium carbonate brought pH up over 4.0, not ideal for fermentation. I added back tartaric to get pH to fermentation-compatible 3.38, but will admit that I'm somewhat out of my league with these numbers. As for sugar, 1.084 came to 1.090 with minimal 350g sugar. Used Opti Red and Booster Rouge but as with Foch, no enzymes. 

Pitched yeast 8/16, VP41 co-innoculated 8/17. Pressed off 8/22 to get 6.5g. To it, I added Enartis Tan Uva, 7.6g. This is much higher (triple) than the recommended dose, yet lower than the recommended dose of the unfortunately similarly named Uva Tan from Scott Labs. I just decided to split the difference and see what happens. 

2020 Wines - Chapter 3 - Foch

The 2019 Foch will be drinkable with decent color. We're trying some new techniques described here to preserve the color in 2020. 

Harvest brought in 51#, far less than the ~200# last year. Dancing Man kept some of the critters away, but we still lost 1/3-1/2 of the crop to critter losses. The yield this year was lower as well, probably due to a late frost. I calculated the TA at 17, pH 2.98. Crush and destem yielded over 5g of must. I treated with 50ppm SO2, then used the double salt technique 61g calcium carbonate to get TA to 10, pH 3.8. I added back some tartaric to get the pH to 3.41. 1.076 + 488g sugar to get to 1.090. Opti Red and Booster Rouge but no enzymes. 

I pitched yeast 8/16, VP41 8/17, then pressed 8/22 and immediately added 2.8g Enartis Tan Uva. Wound up with 3.5g plus a bottle for topping. Some oak cubes will help finish MLF. 

Harvest Day

Days actually. I picked 120# of Chambourcin by myself on Thursday. Then on Sunday we crushed the Chambourcin and picked, crushed, and pressed 400# of Vidal.

Chambourcin

That's about half

Big clusters

Lisa happily pressed all of it

Crush pad

Fruit of the Year - Camu Camu

 We hope for one new fruit from the greenhouse every year. This year it's the Camu Camu, Myrciaria dubia. Mine came to me by way of a friend Ethan in California, and we've grown it for many years now in the greenhouse. 

Like its cousin,the plant has nice peeling bark and tolerates wet soil. And, like its cousin, Camu Camu also fruits directly on the trunk. The fruit is very similar to jaboticaba, but with smaller seeds. We got about 4 fruit this year. 

Harvest Approaches

 Foch was at 17 Brix last week. I haven't checked this week, but it smells like it is getting close. 

This weekend's list, complete:

• Weed/Roundup the elderberries
• Dig up volunteer ornamental grasses
• Clean mud daubers off porch and garage
• Net the grapes
• Remove the grow tubes
• Weed the berm
• Weed the liriope
• Prune the lychees

We're targeting shorter, more frequent posts for my brother. So finally some nice pictures.

And from last week, Lake Michigan: