Jul 14, 2011
July
Vineyard happenings at Kerr Farm Wine.
Winter is the time for pruning grapevines. During winter the vines are dormant, they have lost all their leaves and the sap is retracting back into the trunk and roots. This stored energy is what the vine uses in early spring to push out the new seasons buds. It is therefore an advantage to leave pruning to the last minute before spring sap rise. Practically this is not really possible. The later pruning also helps delay bud burst to some extent for the early budding vines. This gets the vines past the danger of late frosts which fry the new buds.
So planning is needed in how you prune your block of vines. Prune the later varieties first, because you know they will not bud usually till the frosts have passed. Prune the early varieties last thus delaying their bud burst as much as you can to get them past the frosts.
Next time you are driving past your local vineyards, have a look, some have been pruned, the late budding vines. Those still waiting are the early budding vines. Happy Pruning Jaison Kerr
Here is a link to my video on grapevine pruning, have a look around our site you might find something else you might like. Wine!!!!! Click Here for the link