jerry, that is a great shot of the new vinyard....I don't envy you the work! I also loved the picture of the animals in your vehicle on your home page.

I used Neem for the first time this year and was wholly unimpressed. I finally got overnight kill using Sevin at the recommended extra-strength rate for June Bugs. Of course the blasted Japanese Beetles are back once again on the roses.

I couldn't see the neem killed anything, including massive infestations of aphids which I still have on some ornamentals.

Well the Neem Oil seemed to good to be true...I was hoping to stay as close to organic as possible, but thats not worth the price of feeding the blasted beetles all the gub they can eat. If they return I'll spray a section with Neem and see what happens...

The calf was a twin that momma decided she wasn't going to look after, so she got a ride to the house and a bottle mouth. I had 3 sets of twins last year, several farmers around here had twins, strange that there were so many.....Blue Dog (my arrognat heeler companion) wasn't happy with me for allowing the calf to ride up front....seemed undignified to him....

Here is a picture of the deer I caught fussin with one another....they are in a pasture near my garden...they caught me by suprise and the shot isn't in focus (which is to bad, its one of those things you don't see often). We had a late freeze that killed the acorns (and everything else) so the deer we grazing pastures. I actually fed them from a feed bunk most of the winter. I swear they acted like a batch of cattle comming to feed. I'll try to find to pictures...its pretty comical....

Gotta grab some lunch and head back to the vinyard....have a good day...

Here is a link that might be useful:

Someone on another forum said Neem didn't work for JB. I love your view. I hope you are successful with your project. There seem to be a lot of animal lovers on this forum.

Here's a few more pics....first shows whats left after the Japanese Beetles had lunch.

Jerry you and your family have a beautiful place.
as said above I really don't envy all that hard work. I don't mind hard work but you have way more than I could ever handle.
I didn't have any luck with neem. I have been told it is to "repel" not kill. sorry but if bugs are destroying my plants I want them gone. I try to go w/some natural things but I wont stand for that much damage.
You have way too much invested to let those bugs destroy it all.
Your dog has the same type look mine gets when someone gets near the fireplace in the winter.
Bonnie

Did you just clear that land? If so, I think that it would have less weeds. Looks like you are doing more than piddle like you said.

We had a dozer clear it the middle of last winter...then he pulled a shank through at a 3 foot depth and 10 foot row spacing. So when we planted the vines, the roots were trimmed, soil was pushed into the trench, and the vine was set and covered. As the season passed, mother nature filled the trench in with top soil. Some of those pics are from April and some from June. The weeds have really taken off. Which is more my fault than anything. When I fertilized the vines, I used my pasture sprayer with a 40 foot nozzle assembly, driving down the rows spraying Montey's Liquid Fertilizer, I fertilized the weeds as well!!! Its almost a daily chore to bush hog and weed eat to keep it all down. Still don't have all the trellis built. Its hard to find help for this kind of work. So I just keep pluggin away, alittle progress each day. Once the trellis is finished and all the vines are tied, the work load will drop significantly. Of course if it keeps raining (which its doning right now..again) it may be winter before I get finished up.

Be glad of the rain; we are dry again and the rains keep missing us.

Are you working the the Arkansas extension people on the new vinyard?

I see those in Ca. and always wonder how they keep them so weed free and immaculate. I know grapes are extremely susceptible to herbicides so that is out.

We just planted three vines for our use and still don't have the wires in place for next season. We do have the heavy end posts set.

The beetles found too much else to eat here so they didn't bother them much.