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Throughout the month of april, a fellow peer and I have been pruning and retraining the vines in florence and in East hampton. They have had similar problems but by far the vines in East hampton are looking very unhealthy. The site selection seems great: south facing with lots of wind and proper drainage, but the vines are suffering from dye back and a pith rot.
Elsa petit- the viticulture specialist within the Stockbridge school has answered some questions regarding the vines in east hampton.
Right now the trellising system is a Four Arm Kniffin: with two main stems and each stem has two cordons. Having two cordons on one plant can cause apical dominance issues, and depending on the grape variety it can be hard to fight with their habits of downward growth leading to more labor during training and pruning along with leaf pulling. I asked Elsa about using the 4 Arm Kniffin trellising system for the native hybrid rootstocks that are used in cold hardy climates. She explained that with a vigorous hybird variety like Frontenac it makes more sense to use a simple high cordon trellising system to increase air flow.
The vines are also suffering from pith rot, which good be caused by a number of factors and pathogens. I will be taking in a sample to get tested (for free!). Elsa was saying that with lots of dieback, it can be a host for pathogens and could potentially lead to pith rot. The most likely disease would be Anthracnose, for it is attacking the american grapes more and more.
Sadly I think most of these vines aren't worth saving, and we will know more once I receive the test results. There are small signs of hope, but for the most part all the cordons retrained have no or very little buds that survived meaning there will be no harvest from the vines in east hampton. If Larry wants to keep them then it will be a year or two of restoration before any sufficient harvest.
light exposure.