What's happening in the field?

Making raspberry flavored neutral brandy

Marilyn Odneal — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:11:39 +0000

Karl and CJ are making raspberry flavored brandy from the raspberries that were harvested from the high tunnel and adjacent field planting. We had about 125 pounds of berries. The berries were frozen until yesterday when Karl mixed them with neutal distilled spirits that were produced from grapes. The berries soaked in the spirits overnight and today Karl and CJ dumped the contents into a press and let the juice flow out. The color is beautiful and the brandy smells lovely like raspberries. The alcohol percentage is around 30% or 60 proof. It tastes great at this point so there is no plan to add anything else.

CJ and Karl pour raspberries that were soaked in neutral spirits overnight into the press

Staff milestones

Marilyn Odneal — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:15:51 +0000

The State Fruit Experiment Station staff went to the Missouri State Staff Appreciation Banquet today. Milestones reached by our staff members included Jack Atchison’s 10 years of service, John Avery’s 25 years of service, Marilyn Odneal’s 30 years of service and Joe Wright’s retirement in 2011. Dr. Frank Einhellig and President Clif Smart honored the staff members. Thanks to Susanne Howard for taking photos of us at the banquet.

Liming the vineyards

Marilyn Odneal — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:12:35 +0000

Our new, narrow Stoltzfus vineyard lime spreader works great according to Randy Stout and Jeremy Emery. We are applying lime in the dormant season hoping that the freezing and thawing of the soil will work the time in. Our soil sample analysis results showed that our vineyards were tending toward the acid side and we are liming to raise the pH.

Loading lime in the spreader

The application swath is about 40 feet wide

The swaths are overlapped

The lime is being applied to the Norton in the North Vineyard

Holiday Pot Luck Dinner

Marilyn Odneal — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:04:43 +0000

We had several Springfield guests to our holiday potluck including Dr. Frank Einhellig, Jim Bellis, Sue Morris Laurie Wilson, and Carrie Crews. The food was delicious.

Holiday Group Photo 2011 (photo by Mary Beth Kaps)

Pruning apples

Marilyn Odneal — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:52:58 +0000

The Research Catawba and the West Catawba vineyards have been pruned. The crew has moved on to the apples and hope to complete this orchard before the holiday break.

Ryan, Derek and Jeremy are using long handled loppers to prune the apples.

Home winemaking workshop

Marilyn Odneal — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:59:44 +0000

Todd Frye of Ozark Home Brewery is a presenter at the home winemaking workshop

Our home winemaking workshop was held yesterday. Forty-three people participated in th eall day workshop that included lectures and demonstrations in the morning and early afternoon followed by at tour of the winery distillery; a wine flaws display including examples of cort taint, high sulfite content, oxidation and bitartrate crystals; and ending with a tasting of MSU wines. Dr. Karl Wilker of the Mountain Grove Cellars and Mr. Todd Frye of the Ozark Home Brewery presented the home winemaking information. Marilyn Odneal presented information on Missouri grapes for home winemaking. Carrie Crews gave a lunch time presentation on the VESTA online grape and wine program and C. J. Odneal led the tour of the winery/distillery. There was discussion by a fellow from Licking, Missouri on establishing a home winemaking club in the area. If anyone in south central Missouri is interested in this, please email winemaking@centurytel.net to get more information.

Pruning the West Catawbas

Marilyn Odneal — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:42:00 +0000

This morning the field crew is continuing pruning Catawba grapevines. We have pruned some Norton as well. Both Norton and Catawba are cold hardy varieties that we can prune earlier in the domrant season. We wait until later to prune the more winter tender varieties so we might be able to assess possible winter injury that may have occurred and leave extra buds.

Jack, Ryan and Derek prune the West Catawba leaving about 40 buds per plant in this vineyard. They left more buds in the Research Catawba since the vines were larger.

Mulching the grape graft union

Marilyn Odneal — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:29:22 +0000

Derek, Ryan and Callie are applying straw mulch to the young Valvin Muscat grapes that are grafted on to C3309 rootstock. The grafts need to be protected from winter cold for the first 4 to 5 years after planting.

Derek, Ryan and Callie mulch the young grafted grapevines

Pam’s Thanksgiving Cactus

Marilyn Odneal — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:04:08 +0000

Pam Mayer's Thanksgiving Cactus is in bloom in the Shepard Hall Lobby

Last red maple showing

Marilyn Odneal — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:56:21 +0000

The October Glory red maple is still putting on its fall show even after the other red maples have lost their leaves. Our red maple row from south to north consists of the following cultivars; Brandywine, Autumn Flame, Armstrong, Somerset, October Glory, Red Sunset, Sun Valley, and Autumn Blaze. All of the cultivars were planted in 1999 and were donated to our horticulture garden by Mike Shade of the Botany Shop in Joplin.