What's Up in the Vineyard?

Pruning 101

It's Pruning Time Again. When you see all that mustard, in February, you know it's pruning time in the Satori vineyards. Pruning is different than training. These vines were "trained" to grow onto a quadrilateral trellis, or support, system. That means that over several growing seasons we trained the trunk of each vine to grow up to the desired height in the middle of the trellis ... then guided four branches -- or cordons -- to grow out of the trunk and onto the lower support wires, two on each side of the row. 

It really is easier than it looks. When you are a rookie like AuRoRa here, pruning is mostly about going slow and steady, and asking questions if something looks odd. T. says it's more art than science, but after your first couple hundred or so vines, it becomes a meditation. Once four horizontal cordons are established along the lower support wires, you allow 5 to 6 "spurs" to develop along each cordon. From these spurs, each spring, you prune out old dead wood (canes), and all but two fresh buds per spur ... which will sprout and eventually become two new vines per spur ... home for this year's crop of tendrils, leaves and grape clusters.

Up Close and Personal. The horizontal wood at the bottom of this photo is a cordon. The vertical growth coming out of it is a spur. The two canes growing out of the spur are from last year's, 2011, vintage.  And, at the junction of each cane and the spur, you usually find a small, light-colored, somewhat-fuzzy protuberance ... that's a bud, which if you let it, will become a shoot, and then a grape vine. 

The First Cut is the Deepest. The goal for each spur is two nice buds ... but no more than two.  Grape vines will push out a ridiculous amount of buds (even on the trunk and cordons) so you have to keep finger-nailing them off until they get the idea that it's only two you want. Here, the first "prune" removed the oldest cane. One more cut to go.

Voila! The second cut removes most of the second cane from last year, but leaves the one tiny bud you can see from this side, and the one you can't see on the other. These will become our two desired shoots, which will become our two desired vines, which will -- by next year this time -- become two dead canes. And the process starts all over again.

All Pruned. You see the trunks, you see the cordons, you see the spurs, you see the fresh cuts on old canes ... and by April you'll see the two new shoots per spur ... and then the fun really begins. Stay tuned. 

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