Fortunately, things are looking much better this year. The vines are about a week behind last year in terms of fruit maturity, but they are now netted, and this year I'm not taking any chances with those wily oiseaus, I have stapled the nets on the ends right to the posts. They are not getting in! Also, I have a larger crop this year due to more vines being mature. I'm hoping for a solid 200 pounds of fruit this year, enough for 12 gallons! But I will be delighted with 9 gallons--enough to fill my barrel and a little extra for topping. When the vines are fully mature, I might hit 300 pounds of fruit.
I have discovered about 5 years too late that I should have done vertical shoot positioning, because Marquette really seems to want to grow upward rather than downward as they do on top-wire cordon trellising. So I am going to slowly start converting the vines over to a different trellis system, which will take probably another 3 years!
In the meantime, I am working towards a great 2014 harvest in about a month!
-Jacques
