Grape Grower's Notebook March 15, 1999

Note: This is not a comprehensive "how to" page on pruning. For a good download on the whole subject of training and pruning, Click Here and then come back to see us sometime!

Pruning Suggestion

Pruning stimulates plant activity, so prune your varieties in reverse order. Prune the variety that bud breaks the earliest LAST ! In our vineyard, that means Cabernet Sauvignon is pruned before Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc.

Two years ago, warm weather in late February and early March activated our Chardonnay to the point of bud break in the 6-8 buds near the ends of the canes. The date was March 14 which is at least a month early for our location. There was plenty of bud-damaging weather yet to come. However, the Chardonnay had not been pruned, so the buds that were breaking were expendable. If it had been pruned, we would have been looking at buds that were supposed to bear fruit that year, and both the buds and vineyard owner would have been in trouble.
 

Have a good year!

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