Late afternoon sun in early spring 2017. Martock ski area is in the background Two year old Petite Pearl not pruned on the left and pruned but not tied down on the right Pruning Pruning must finish before the buds swell too much as the risk of injury to the buds is increased. Marquette, […]
Winter Pruning Cold hardy vine pruning commenced in late December at Johnston Vineyards and continued fairly steadily until early March when pruning of the vinifera vines began. This just finished up in early May. The rationale of pruning the vinifera later is that any late damage to the more susceptible vines would be detected and […]
A new bird net winder to wind up and store bird netting mounted on the sides of the vines has been built for Johnston Vineyards. It has an easily accessible external handle to control speed and direction removing the need for an operator to sit in the tractor cab. There are 6 bars to thread the […]
Artos Trellis System Johnston Vineyard’s first Artos trellis (manufactured in Germany and available from Shemogue Custom & Trellis Inc, NB) was installed in 2015 by Bob’s Fencing & Grape Field Trellis System, Canaan, NS (Artos information). An additional 7 acres was installed in 2016. The C line poles are made from galvanized steel with […]
Overveiw 2016 was a great year for growing grapes. It was dry with the occasional light rain which limited fungal diseases of the vines and grapes and resulted in smaller grapes but more concentrated flavors. Fall stretched on into November without a hard frost so the grapes had extra time to ripen. the weather […]
Two year old New York Muscat under threatening summer sky. General comments: The most amazing thing about the vineyard this summer was the tremendous growth that took place. Top growers were the Marquette, Petite Pearl, Riesling and Chardonnay. The Marquette was so vigorous that it was necessary to allow a crop of grapes to ripen. […]
Vine survival: The 14 acre upper section of Johnston Vineyards was planted last spring, a third of which consisted of vinifera vines. The Cabernet Foch/3309 2 year bare root plants did reasonably well but the one year potted vines nearly all died. The root ball was not disturbed. It rained often after planting. They were […]
Klaus Sudbrack and his crew of Europeans from Shemogue Custom and Trellis arrived in early June and planted all 14 acres in 4 days with their mechanical planter. They kept the rows perfectly straight with laser guidance. Everything went smoothly and the weather was perfect. Blue grow tubes were put on all 14000 vines by […]
Johnston Vineyards (JV) started working with LP Consulting Solutions (lise.leblanc@eastlink.ca; phone 902-256-2636) in 2015 to develop a NMP (nutrient management plan) and to ask questions about the soil. Lise charges 1500$ for a comprehensive NMP which is fully refunded by the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture (NSDA) via the Home Grown Success Program (Home Grown […]
