Happy first day of spring!

My vineyard is just starting to come to life.  The above champini will probably be the first to break bud, perhaps in 2 days.  You can already see the green leaf shapes pushing out of the red fuzzy scales.

I've been spraying dormant oil on a 2 week schedule, with 6 selected vines getting sprayed on a 1 week schedule.  It seems to be doing a good job of delaying bud burst.  Also, it seems to be differentially impacting buds such that there is a much wider spread in 'start times'.  Combined with my late pruning (no pruning done, yet), I think my chances of getting at least a few primary buds to survive the frost season (Feb 15 to April 15) is much, much better.

Based on the forecast, there is a fair chance of a freeze here on April 3 and 4th.   The forecast is for 43 and 44, but I'm often 10 degrees cooler.

Below is a record of low temps in my vineyard.  The temps come from Opossum Hollow, about 2 miles up the river.   I've spot checked my vineyard temps, and they match very well.  Out of 8 years, there was only 1 spring without a freeze between 3/29 and 4/15.  The chances this early bud will survive are low, but a lot of other buds will be fine.  Those late buds will be the ones that produce the next generation of grape seeds here.