It takes a significant amount of steel to produce a bunch of grapes. The trellis system that we will be using to keep the grapes off the ground and healthy is now being put into place. Stakes are driven into the ground 6 feet apart in the row with rows 16 feet wide. The lines of stakes have to be dead straight because they will be there for 30 years and other farmers will see them. nobody really says anything they just twist their heads to look down a crooked row and tut tut. We cannot have that. Once the stakes are in place we will install the drip irrigation system that is supported on a wire at about knee height on the stakes. We will then be able to plant. Our potted plants are coming from Duarte Nursery later this month.
they will be trained on a Geneva Double Curtain system which will need a cross arm installed at the top of the stake and two more wires to suport the fruiting arms of the plant. We are planting eight rows of 108 plants which will give us 1,000 bunches per week over a ten week period starting in three years time. we are using five varieties to do this.