After the earliest bud break in recent memory, we had three weeks of cold weather and hardly any shoot growth. About a week ago the temps warmed into the upper 70's/low-80s, giving us clear, hot, dry weather - one of the warmest season starts in recent years.
Although 2013 season rainfall is only about 4 inches less than normal, since January we have had 10 inches less than normal, and the ground is now already as hard as concrete.
The combination of dryer soils and warmer weather has shifted the vines (and work) into high gear. We've already pulled doubles and suckered, and with the shoots at or above the first catch-wire, we'll likely put clips on the first wire by next weekend.
Current forecast are for warm and dry weather to continue. We could use a day or two of rain sometime soon.
