Often I have tried to take before & after shots of vine pruning, but the background is usually so confusing the vine is indiscernible. Approaching the ends of the rows both east and north, I tried again. This “before” picture illustrates a vine that has been pushed to the east over the years by persistent wind. This opens up a sunnier position to the left and encourages growth of canes rather than growth on the established spurs. At some point, the vine needs retrained to better utilize the trellis. The “after” picture shows a big cut where the original trunk is retired and the more vigorous new growth is trained up in its place. This method also works in situations where the trunk is damaged from disease or splitting.
The coronavirus outbreak has us all washing our hands like madmen, but sanitation in the vineyard has been a priority for many years. We have to manage the spread of crown gall caused by soil-borne bacteria by cleaning our equipment and we promptly dispose of last year’s cuttings to reduce fungus spores. These are the old challenges along with known pests and the threat of late frosts and freezes.
This year’s challenges include discovery of new pests and cold weather damage. The identification of scale on a few trunks adds to our oppression by insects. This type of scale is an insect that sucks the bark but never moves. The small discs are usually found in pairs. Their low number warranted only removal by hand. I wonder if the vine’s normal shedding of bark will dislodge them over time?
Trunk splitting is something we don’t see much of other than our lightning incident. This spring we have seen several vines declining and traced it to a split in the trunk. This was likely caused by a previous winter’s cold snap. The winter of 2019/2020 was not nearly cold enough to create the problem and last year’s growth was already affected.
It’s easy to procrastinate the task of pruning. Starting too early or cutting too short can make buds more susceptible to a late freeze. But in order to be done in time you have to start. The center photo above shows a weeping cut, a normal occurrence as the days warm up. In this instance a gelatinous drip combined with a quick change in temperature to freeze in mid-air. The week of May 4th was full of frosts and a whopping freeze event. It remains to be seen what the effects will be on this year’s productivity.
