Black Plague
Think I’m beginning to relate to medieval hysteria accompanying a plague.
After our first glimpse of the cottage, it only took a few weeks to wrap things up in Dublin. And such was the sight which greeted us upon our return to America.
Appropriately named ‘black rot,’ its appearance has caused me to take a crash course in learning grape maintenance. Ruthless as a contagious fungus—I, too, have to be ruthless in eradicating it, feeling a little like the village executioner destroying the good along with the bad after an epidemic.
What once looked like this—
Now, looks like this—
So, if I haven’t killed the vine with my zealous pruning and if I can keep on top of any new fungus, we just might have some grapes next year.
Oh that is very sad! Here’s hoping for next year.
08 Jul 2008 at 11:09 am
Oh, that is a terrible loss. Good thing you caught it right away. Grapes seem to be pretty tough, though. I had to prune back my vine pretty harshly last year after a tree fell on it and it came back this year. Here’s hoping yours will bounce back as well!
08 Jul 2008 at 11:46 am
What a pity, but fingers crossed you’ll have it back in fine health soon.
08 Jul 2008 at 12:07 pm
Crossing my fingers for you! Are these wine grapes or “eating” grapes?
08 Jul 2008 at 12:34 pm
Oh but do I identify with you on those grapes. I was so excited that we had grape vines when we bought this house. Much to my dismay, they had the black rot as well. Pruning mine back didn’t help ours. We eventually ended up digging up the vines. Ours was rather old as well, so I imagine that had a bit to do with not being able to bounce back.
We plan on planting new vines perhaps next year. Did you know that they need to be planted and grown at a certain directional angle? Ours wasn’t planted right either.
Good luck with yours. Hopefully they will come back healthy for you.
08 Jul 2008 at 12:57 pm
Good luck with the grapes
09 Jul 2008 at 12:30 pm
When necessary, it’s useless to hesitate ! what else in your garden ? bambou I know ;-)… vegetables, flowers ?
10 Jul 2008 at 3:14 am
Oh! what a before and after. Time will tell, fingers’ crossed.
10 Jul 2008 at 5:05 am
Ouch! But sometimes you just have to be ruthless.I’m sure that you will be rewarded next year.
10 Jul 2008 at 8:59 am
Yikes. So sorry to hear about the black rot. As nasty as it sounds. I hope you have great grapes next year.
I’m terribly behind on my blog reading - so sorry for being late in welcoming you back Stateside! I hope you and yours will be very happy here
11 Jul 2008 at 1:20 am