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[email protected]

Okay, here is my question..

I just had a good sized storm blow through about an hour ago, knocked over about half my secondaries. I bury my secondaries, but the rain and wind was so much (60 mph wind gusts) it uprooted my secondaries and some are laying on thier side.

My question is do you go in NOW and try to stand them up, leave them lay on thier side because of fear you will do more damage than good, or what? I am sure nearly everyone here has done this at one time or another, I just was pondering what to do.

Leaves and ground are soaked right now, so leaves will be very heavy with water making them very breakable if you try to manuever them, and the soil is saturated, making serious compaction of I get in there now and try to fix the problem.

Any one got any suggestions?

7/5/2004 5:52:37 PM

Canada

Persionally I would leave them be for right now till all the moisture has dried up. You really dont want to be walking in a soil soaked patch because the soil will compact when wet and harden like a rock when it dries up.

My 1178 L wentzells main vine was about 1.4 foot long up in the air we had a bad strom pass by and it tossed the vine down to the ground, damaging leaves and the main vine twisted and there was an open slice + a kink on each side of the main vine at the stump, I let it be for 2 days so everything would dry up somewhat. I went out 2 days later and sprayed fungicide on the entire plant includeing the wound which was still open and barried it under the ground
and 2 weeks ago while watering the same plant the water washed away the drit from the stump area and it was healed up good, the crack on each side of the vine was no longer there it had hardened up to like bark scape. I persionally thought the plant was a gonner but its now holding 2 females nice with one out around the 4 ft mark and the other around the 6.5-7 ft mark.

Yup id just leave it be till the patch dries up then go out and see what the damage is.

dave

7/5/2004 6:01:20 PM

Ohio

PGP,
I just had the same storm, it looked like a little tornado went right through the middle of my patch, about 8 leaves was bent over to the ground off the main vine, they wasnt broke, just laying flat on the ground, I had to go in and put them back up, i used my good hunting arrows to hold the leaves up in place, i hope the leaves will mend them self, Now my leaves(stems) are real weak and want to fall to one side. Will they harden back up or will they always be weak where they was bent over.

7/5/2004 6:08:37 PM

Ohio

No answer for what to do but a big storm came through last thur. and snapped a big pine and uprooted a 66' tall Cherry tree. No damage to the patch at all because of a 3' silt fence around the patch. Around $10 for 100' with stakes attached. Great investment.

7/5/2004 6:16:34 PM

Mastic Beach, New York

i all ways try and fix them the same day or in the morning..i grab my bamboo stakes and start up righting the vines and stake them..i lay down boards to try to stop from compacting the soil..i figure the faster i help the plant right it self back up less stress it will have..

7/5/2004 6:50:48 PM

canal winchester ohio

I would wait a bit Rocky, if you go in now the ground will compact like brick. I know it sounds dumb but go crack a beer take a couple of deep breaths & get it when it is a little more dry. We sometimes do more damage in the minutes after a storm than what the storm does itself.

7/5/2004 7:02:05 PM

[email protected]

Any suggestion that contains beer is my kind of a suggestion!

7/5/2004 7:11:36 PM

canal winchester ohio

lol !!

7/5/2004 7:29:11 PM

Western Pa.

Rock,

First, go get yourself a case of cold beer! The same thing happened to me last year. We had 8" of rain in 4 hours which uncovered the vines, then 45 m.p.h. winds twisted them like corkscrews. (I was hoping the wind would change direction and untwist them!) Didn't happen. I gently unwound the vines and while an assistant held them "upright", I recovered them. Once the vines blow over, their leave stems never seem to grow as high. If any vines are split or cracked I'd remove them, I didn't last year and I think water (and disease) got into them. I ended up with NOTHING, hope you do better than I did!

7/5/2004 9:25:06 PM

Joliet, IL

rock, same thing happened to me last year and i made the
mistake of jumping in a little too early right after
the storm and made a mess of things. i am sure my
root system was completely in shock after my fat ass was
walking all over them. i used bamboo stakes to prop them
up which worked fine by cradling some larger leaves on each
side where they bow out and then restaking the vines
down incase another quick storm hits in next few days.
overall, everything worked fine but if it happened again
to me i would wait one day, then lay thin boards between
each row and take my time and do it right instead of
being a wet pissed maniac stomping and tromping,
doing more damage then good. my leaves and secondaries
recovered fine but i am sure the roots never really recovered.

7/5/2004 9:36:48 PM

[email protected]

Folks, thanks for all the help! I waited a few hours, let the leaves dryoff some, and then went in and worked on the leaves and secondary vines, using stakes and other neighboring leaves to stand as many as I could upright. I did snap a few, but they were pretty brittle at this early stage. It is supposed to dry out and get hot the next few days, so I hope it rights itself quickly. My fruit on the 898 is now at 132 inches OTT, at 20 days.. Circ is 54 inches, a bit off the watermark of 60 inches we strive for, but I believe this or the 723 to be the one. I will be terminating the main vine onthe 898 Wednesday (25 ft now) and the 723 by the weekend (20 ft now). Once that happens, leaves, fruits, and everything will start to fill in and get stronger, bigger, faster.. Like Steve Austin kinda..

Okay.. time to polish off this last beer and hit the sack.. I got a nice 895 Hester to pollenate in 7 hours..

You guys are great.. thanks for the words..

7/6/2004 12:06:29 AM