Pruning Continues

So we finished pruning a few weeks ago.. well kind of. Reality is we prune 2x each year and we finished the first 1. The second pruning will be at the end of May and its really a crop load adjustment.

The first pruning is to take off the bulk of last years growth and leave spurs interspaced along the vine. This is Marechal Foch...the row on the left has been pruned and the row on the right still has all of last years growth. We target an ideal bud count of 5-6 buds per linear foot of trellis but because of the chance of a late spring frost we leave double the bud count on the first pruning,  so about 10 buds per linear foot at this time.

Leaving the extra buds does two things. The first is that it slightly slows the emergence of the buds in the spring. This alone, the delayed bud emergence, can help if there was a late spring frost in that buds that are not fully emerged can withstand colder temperatures. Secondly, if there is a late frost that damages the emerging buds, it usually  wont damage them all. So extra buds means a greater chance of having a normal sized  crop.

At the fist pruning we usually leave 4 bud spurs and then when we complete the second pruning we will cut that back to 2 buds. So when its all said and done we will have about 3 x 2 bud spurs per linear foot of trellis. (Image below shows the 4 bud spur)

After the second pruning and later in the summer we will remove shoots that might not have any fruit on them as well as any secondary shoots that have emerged. This could be considered a third pruning but we chalk it up to canopy and crop load adjustments. Ideally for our conditions we would have a final shoot count of 5 shoots per linear foot.

We are seeing great survival rates of buds and so far so good. Few more hurdles to go...no late frost...warm weather in June and through flowering...good fruitset..and if we get to there with little issues we just need a good dump of rain by early August and then hoping for a warm September easing into an early October harvest.

Not asking for much is it?

Pruning Time

 So a few weeks back we started our pruning. Its a time when you get the first sense of how the vines have made out through the winter.

You start cutting off last years growth and leave enough growth for this years canes to sprout from. We generally leave 50%-100% extra buds in our first go at the pruning as there is always a chance of a late spring frost that could destroy the crop.

Leaving this many extra buds does 2 things. First the extra buds slows the emergence of the new growth as the vine has to support double the crop load. Second...if there is a frost there are that many more buds on the vine that then increases the chance of a decent secondary crop. Risk management in the vineyard.

Cutting away last years growth and observing the canes shows you how healthy they are. Green tissue that extends nearly the full length of the cane is a really good sign.

Generally as the canes start to go dormant for the winter they are hardiest near the trunk and least hardy towards the tips. So its not uncommon for a good portion of the cane to die. This year with the mild winter that only went as low as -18c, there is very little die back.

Good news as we are taking cane prunings to propegate into new vines. We will be starting some L'Acadie, Vandal Cliche, GR7, Foch and Marquette.