#Planting And Pruning Grape Vines | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kihaku-gato · 2 months

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hey!! you follow my plantblr (unexpectedplantblr) and i’ve learned so much just off your tags dude. wdym pruning omg i’m so wildly unprepared how and when should i be doing that! i can’t imagine they have yt videos on shit THAT basic do they!?.

and my apples are dwarfs?? i’ve been stressing abt them so close to the house and was trying to find an arborist to help me move them but do you think they’ll be ok with just some root guard? omg i’m so sorry to bug you feel free to ignore!

There’s no issues and I welcome the asks! This enthusiasm gives me old tumblr days vibes that I think many miss these days lol.

Inevitably most domestic fruiting woody plants need a trim up of pruning for maintenance. Some types don’t need it overall or don’t need it at certain life stages, but those are the lucky cases.

While I’m currently still in the midst of pruning season as of writing this, your photos imply it’s a smidgen late for you to be doing any at all unless it’s either for major issues or dead/diseased wood; it’s generally best to get the pruning before said woody plants leaf out but while they are still dormant to reduce shock, to avoid damaging freshly sprouted growth (since if you’re early enough there’s no leaves to worry about), and keep them wasting energy on wood that’ll be cut off in the process. I recall I got my info on pruning mostly by book literature but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some niche videos on the topic online- there are yt video journals and tutorials for niche fruits like Asimina triloba cultivation/maintenance so surely less exotic stuff would have online tutorials on it. Do try to find more than one source to try to average out the answers they give lest they give different answers or overlook different details (gardening can get subjective sometimes after all). If I recall the rule for Grape vines you try to keep one “lead vine” intact to be the one to produce new yearly branches/shoots that will then produce the grapes.

Fortunately I think you don’t have to worry about any issues with skipping the livewood pruning this year; let this year just help you get more familiar with what you’re dealing with.

For next year I can at least say from my own experience a few points; universally you want to prune to remove dead, damaged, and diseased wood, as well as any branches that crisscross with each other (since those will just make damaged wood from rubbing if allowed to stay), and generally you try to not cut more than a 3rd of the live growth (even if it means you gotta wait next year to fully shape a tree if the pruning work for some reason is major- which is my case with my older unkempt trees) to avoid having the pruning reach deadly amounts (there are exceptions- most Clematis are pruned to extreme amounts most of the time, well established Grapes and Kiwis can have a lot taken off too in certain cases). Oh and big one that newbies can miss; if you're getting tools, try to get bypass type pruning tools, anvil type pruning tools do damage to live wood (since they crush moreso to cut unlike bypass) and are better for exclusively dead/removed wood.

Observe what others do to their trees of similar kind to your own; I learned a little bit on what to do with my own apple trees from seeing what other people have done to their apple trees of similar size in my region.

It’s not easy at first but set goals for what you’re pruning. In my case a good chunk of my apple trees are quite old (we’re talking hollowed-out old for many of these trees), so my goal is generally to help extend their lives as well as fruit production as a bonus, so I try to reduce the sources of major weight burden on the large crumbling branches. Another goal in my case is making it that the branches are not as high up so that they are easier to maintain and harvest from, since yet again, my trees are on the larger/older end of what to expect from an orchard.

While not an option for me consulting Arborists is definitely not a bad option if you’re free to throw the cash.

Pruning rules/goals for your dwarf apple trees will probably be slightly different from what I do for my own trees since you’re dealing with very different growth forms from my own.

I am not 100% certain your apple trees by the house are dwarves but their growth habit feels more like what I’d expect/imagine from dwarf/semidwarf trees; as to what fruit variety it could be a lot of possibilities; apple trees tend to be grafted onto rootstock that affects their hardiness/size, so you could have similar cultivars to what I have for the fruit/scionwood but would definitely have very different cultivars for the rootstock that they are attached to. If the previous owners knew what they were doing they would’ve chosen dwarf roostock cultivars to avoid them becoming troublesome so close to the house.

In my opinion dwarves or not they are a bit big already to risk moving/transplanting away from the house without a painful and risky amount of long (worst case possibly years worth) of aftercare; if that is or was truly an issue you’d be better off getting new rootstock to plant in the new locations and grafting onto them from the house specimens onto those new rootstocks (you can hire/ask experts if you can’t quite do it yourself, we had a family member of a family member help save a heritage cultivar in our orchard by getting some successful grafts from the dying tree. I plan to do some grafting myself down the road I just dk what to graft rn). I am not familiar with root guard, from what I read it's a brand of fertilizer that claims to help stimulate root growth???

Also note with the Cherry/Plum trees mention before; one of the issues for ID sometimes for them is there’s just, a lot of species, a lot hybridize together, and that’s not even considering/factoring in domestic hybrids/cultivars where the diversity can be as wide as it is for apple cultivars. It can really muddy the waters for identification down to the exact kind unless you’re dealing with a very sharp specialist or a very distinct variety, and even then some may struggle with certain cases.

Lucky you to also have something as fancy as a finger lime! I already guessed so but that definitely solidified my guess that you are in a warmer growing zone from me lol.

#plantblr #ask #askbox #tried to break it apart to make it easier to read but dear lord that's a lotta text #wall of text

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 7 months

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True Vine

by Andrew Murray

"And Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth, That it May Bear More Fruit" – John 15:2

There are two remarkable things about the vine. There is not a plant of which the fruit has so much spirit in it, of which spirit can be so abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plantnwhich so soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs the most mercilessnpruning. I look out of my window here on large vineyards: the chief care of the vinedresser is then pruning. You may have a trellis vine rooting so deep in good soil that it needs neither digging, nornmanuring, nor watering: pruning it cannot dispense with, if it is to bear good fruit. Some tree needsnoccasional pruning; others bear perfect fruit without any: the vine must have it. And so our Lordntells us, here at the very outset of the parable, that the one work the Father does to the branch thatnbears fruit is: He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.

Consider a moment what this pruning or cleansing is. It is not the removal of weeds or thorns, or anything from without that may hinder the growth. No; it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the previous year, the removal of something that comes from within, that has been produced by the life of the vine itself. It is the removal of something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning. It is the honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away. And why? Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long shoots of last year’s growth: the sap must be saved up and used for fruit alone. The branches, sometimes eight and ten feet long, are cut down close to the stem, and nothing is left but just one or two inches of wood, enough to bear the grapes. It is when everything that is not needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as little of the branches as possible has been left, that full, rich fruit may be expected.

What a solemn, precious lesson! It is not to sin only that the cleansing of the Husbandman here refers. It is to our own religious activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have, in working for God, to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit. What is of man must be reduced to its very lowest measure. All that is inconsistent with the most entire devotion to Christ’s service must be removed. The more perfect the cleansing and cutting away of all that is of self, the less of surface over which the Holy Spirit is to be spread, so much the more intense can be the concentration of our whole being, to be entirely at the disposal of the Spirit. This is the true circumcision of the heart, the circumcision of Christ. This is the true crucifixion with Christ, bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus in the body.

Blessed cleansing, God’s own cleansing! How we may rejoice in the assurance that we shall bring forth more fruit.

O our holy Husbandman, cleanse and cut away all that there is in us that would make a fair show, or could become a source of self-confidence and glorying. Lord, keep us very low, that no flesh may glory in Thy presence. We do trust Thee to do Thy work.

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abugwritesstuff · 1 year

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The Princes React to MC Being Sick: Rio

second to last of these that i'm planning to do! i've since recovered from the illness that inspired these personally haha. enjoy!

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“It’s a beautiful day for pruning, isn’t it, Thoma?” Rio called across the field. From beyond the thick hedges of Voleri gold, the valet’s fluffy blond head popped up, grinning in agreement.

“Sure is!”

Rio dusted his hands of stray dirt and leaned back in satisfaction to observe the work he’d done. Rows of perfectly weeded and pruned vines of berries and grapes stretched out before him, gleaming in the midday sun. Nearly perfectly ripe, he thought to himself. There were few kinds of days he enjoyed more than a garden day. Fencing days with Grayson could come close, but of course, Sunbeam didn’t usually join for those, so gardening was decidedly his favorite. Since his paramour had entered his life, everything had felt sweeter: lunch in the refectory, studying in the library, field trips, gardening… it was endless, the list of things she’d made better with her presence.

“Oi! Rio! Keep your head with you, mate! We’ve still got a long way to go!” Thoma shouted, knocking Rio out of his lovesick reverie with a gasp.

“Oh! Sorry!” Rio shouted back, sheepish. Though, as he surveyed the area, it occurred to him that he hadn’t caught a glimpse of his dear paramour for much too long. Had she wandered off to the far ends of the field? The concept of that sent a wave of nerves to his belly. Her special power made her a target, the headmaster had warned him. Suddenly concerned, Rio waved a hand to Thoma. “Just a moment, Thoma. I’m going to find MC!”

Thoma rolled his eyes. “Of course you are,” he replied, laughing, then disappeared back into the curtain of wheat around him.

Rio paced the perimeter of the field, peering between bushes and shrubs and stalks heavy with vegetables and fruit. Her presence was eerily absent. “Hello? Sunbeam?” he called. No response came, until faintly in the distance he caught the faintest sound of a hacking cough. He rushed in the direction of the sound and finally found her, crouched among a cluster of cabbage plants with her face buried in her elbow.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you! You alright, Sunbeam?” he asked, coming up beside her.

She turned and Rio frowned. Something was clearly wrong. She plastered on a smile and waved at him cheerily. “I-I’m fine! Just been weeding over here-” At that, she turned and coughed again, a wheezing cough that made Rio wince.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t sound good. Are you sure you didn’t inhale any dirt or something?” Rio scooted closer and crouched beside her so he could rub a hand along her back, feeling her shake as her body was wracked with coughs.

“I’m sure,” she choked out. “I’m fine.”

Rio, unconvinced, watched as she restarted her weeding process: her hands looked to be quivering slightly and her movements were slower than usual- in fact, her pile of weeds was quite a bit smaller than it would usually be at this time. Beneath the brim of her sunhat, she looked a bit clammy around the brow.

Frowning, Rio moved to the other side of the row of cabbages and then placed his hands over hers, engulfing the back of her hands in his palms. “If you aren’t feeling good, don’t force yourself to keep going on my account, Sunbeam,” he murmured. When she failed to respond, Rio reached over to tip her chin up toward him, gasping inwardly at the glazed, flushed look across her face. The sunhat had obscured the extent of her illness under its shadow, but with her face now exposed Rio could see the exhaustion and lack of her usual good color and vigor.

“I’m not forcing myself, I’m just a bit ti-ahhh?!” she attempted to respond, but Rio had already stood and scooped her into his arms.

Rio pouted down at her. “You’re not well. I’m going to take you to the infirmary.”

“But-”

“Hey! Thoma! We’re going to go to the infirmary!” Rio shouted across the field, and Thoma popped his head out once again from among the stalks of grain.

“Something happen?!” Thoma shouted back.

“MC is sick!”

Resigning herself to the infirmary visit, she slumped against Rio’s chest as the valet and prince conversed. Soon enough, Rio was striding quickly across the campus in the direction of the main buildings, his face held in an expression of worry. Catching her eye as he walked, Rio jutted out a lower lip. “How long were you feeling poorly?”

Hiding her face in the lapels of his jacket, she sighed. “Just this morning.”

“You felt it before we started gardening?”

She nodded silently. Rio’s grip around her tightened and she could feel him suck in a breath.

“Sunbeam, I… I never want you to do that again. Promise me you won’t?”

Weak to the look of sadness and anxiety in her sweet paramour’s face, she relented with a sigh and nodded again. “I promise.”

Rio nodded back slowly, staring ahead and thinking. “Next time you can just tell me. I’ll never be disappointed if you need to rest,” he said. When the pair reached the infirmary, Rio remained close, sitting on the edge of the bed as the healer administered the potion, silent and deep in thought.

MC threw her legs over the edge of the bed, coughed into her elbow slightly, and then stood, pulling Rio from his thoughts. “I’ll go back to my room now,” she said, looking down at him guiltily. “You can go ahead and go back to gardening with Thoma now- it’ll start to get dark soon and I know there’s still a lot to do. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help today.” With that, she began to walk off, but Rio caught her by the arm, reeling her back.

“Wait, hold on, Sunbeam- what are you doing?” he asked, perplexed.

She blinked. “Uh? I was just going to retire now…”

Rio stood, shaking his head firmly. “I’m not going to just abandon you! I’m going to nurse you back to health, of course! I can garden with Thoma later.” With an air of finality, Rio took her by the hand and led her off in the direction of her room, shaking his head and smiling at any protests. Settling her back into her bed, Rio tucked her blankets in tightly around her and gave her a hearty kiss to the forehead. “Wait here,” he instructed, then disappeared from the room.

He returned a short while later with a cart laden heavily with food: different soups, a thermos of tea, a basket of soft breads, a basket of crackers, and a bowl of already peeled and chopped fruits. She noted that his spirits seemed to have lifted in the time he’d been gone, as he sat at her bedside with a thump and an excited grin.

“Luckily the other day Thoma, Tino and I were in the kitchens and so we already had this ready! Here, have some tea first,” Rio said, pouring an aromatic green tea into a cup and then holding it out. “For your throat. And to keep you warm.”

She took it from him and tipped it back- the heat of ginger and the sweetness of honey mixed with sky apples danced on her tongue and left a soothing coating behind. “It feels nice,” she murmured.

Rio nodded enthusiastically, his shoulders releasing tension with no small measure of relief. “Yeah! That tea is one I had as a kid back in Voleri whenever I was ill. I had the kitchen staff teach me how to make it once when Teto was sick and lost his voice.”

“So you’re pretty seasoned at taking care of people, huh?” MC quipped.

“I wouldn’t say that, really. I don’t know it the way people like Toa do, with all their medicines and whatnot. But I know that other things can help. Like this!” At that Rio held up a bowl of soup in one hand- an identical bowl balancing in his other hand.

MC set down the empty teacup and took the proffered bowl, staring down in wonderment at the golden liquid within. “This looks just like…”

Rio beamed. “Yeah! That soup you told me about the other week, what was it… you called it… chicken noodle? Well, I wanted to try making it. I’m not sure we got it exactly right, but you said your mother used to make it for you and so I thought since she can’t anymore, I would.”

She had, while listening, taken several bites of the soup and felt her eyes beginning to burn with tears. She set the spoon down into the bowl with a clatter and sniffled, burying her face in her hands.

“Sunbeam?! Is… did it not turn out right?”

“No! No, i-it’s perfect, Rio,” she choked out. She took in a shaky breath and wiped her eyes. “It’s exactly right. Thank you so much.”

Confused but relieved, he smiled and set his own bowl down on the cart, kicking off his shoes and then climbing over her to sit criss-cross beside her. “I really hope you’ll feel better soon. I don’t like to see you unwell,” he said, leaning over to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Whenever you aren’t feeling good, I want you to tell me. And I’ll make you soup and keep you company every time, I promise!” Laughing through her tears, she smiled and nodded in assent. “Of course. I promise not to pretend to feel well when I don’t.”

“That’s the spirit!” Rio exclaimed, tugging her into his arms for an enthusiastic hug and she melted into his arms.

“...I love you, Rio. So much,” she mumbled.

He held her face between his hands and smiled gently. “And I love you so much. You should rest now, Sunbeam. And I’ll be here when you wake up.” He brushed a hand down through her hair in long, soothing strokes until her eyelids fell heavy over her eyes and she slipped off into an easy slumber in his arms. Rio leaned back against the pillow and watched through the window as the sun sunk fully out of sight, bathing the room in the final warm orange vestiges of the day. He’d thought to himself earlier that gardening days were his favorite because of her, but it occurred to him now that any day with her was his favorite, no matter what befell them: illness included. Just her presence lit him up inside and made anything wonderful. Basking in the glow, Rio yawned and closed his own eyes, chasing the warmth of his sunbeam into the evening.

#court of darkness #rio voleri

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eggtrolls · 30 days

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Spent my morning pruning hour at work on this groundsel bush (a native salt marsh species also known as Baccharis halimifolia) that was covered in porcelainberry (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata), an invasive species of grape. Cherished mutual (of nine years! wow!) @islenskur mentioned not knowing much about the invasive species I work on so here's a little primer for anyone interested.

Porcelainberry is from eastern Asia and was imported to the United States in the late 19th century as an ornamental landscaping plant - it has since gone rogue and is all over the East Coast and has been found as far west as Iowa. The good people of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Virginia said porcelainberry is "the most pervasive of all invasive plants" they are dealing with. It's a woody vine that can grow as tall as 20 ft, can grow in just about any environment include damp and shaded areas, and has a massive root system so it's also incredibly difficult to eradicate. It grows so quickly and so prolifically that it can easily shade out other plants in the understory and it will also easily cover an entire tree and engulf it -- if you find an undisturbed thicket of porcelainberry, it is probably a monoculture as it has killed or outcompeted everything in the area. Furthermore, since it can regrow from root fragments, it cannot be composted. As high risk of an invasive species as it is, porcelainberry is still sold in the horticulture trade, although it has since been banned in Delaware.

Porcelainberry seeds are spread by birds and small mammals like squirrels that eat the small, marble-like berries that form in the summer; they're actually really beautiful and vary in colour from a robin's egg blue to a deep midnight purple. While they are edible, they taste nasty, so if you like bland berries with a somewhat stinging aftertaste and a slimy texture, these are a perfect snack. The leaves are also edible and not disgusting (I've actually used them to make dolmades aka stuffed grapes leaves and the texture was no different than cultivated grape leaves) and they look quite lovely on a cast iron fence -- zoom in on the little tendrils that it uses to cling to itself and other objects to make a lattice and quickly grow upwards. These tendrils are a big tell for identifying porcelainberry in the winter when there are no leaves, as other clinging/climbing vines like Asian bittersweet, English ivy, and poison ivy have different ways of attaching to the trees.

As much as I hate dealing with it, I have to admit that this plant is incredibly good at thriving in adverse conditions.

Bonus: it can be hard to see how much is removed just from before-after pictures so here’s the cleanup result:

#dispatches from the park #invasive species 101 #Ampelopsis glandulosa

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 8 months

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8th October >> Mass Readings (USA)

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

(Liturgical Colour: Green: A (1))

First Reading Isaiah 5:1–7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 80:9, 12, 13–14, 15–16, 19–20