Archive for September 2009

With this article, I want to show you how you can protect your young grape vines, while spraying weed-killer.

But before we move on:

• Remember that weed-killer can be harmful.
• Take note of what weed-killer you use, (contact or systematic)
• Use properly maintained and calibrated spray equipment
• Read the instructions on the container label,
• Ensure that you will not contaminate primary water and food sources
• Use protective clothing.

With that said …

Weeds are the number one enemy for any young grape vine and we all know that, taking care of unwanted weeds in a newly planted vineyard, can be headache. 

If you allow the young grape vine to come in contact with the weed-killer you spray, it will also die or get badly damaged.  The fact remains; we still need to control weeds in newly planted vineyards- period! 

Easier said than done, isn’t it!

However, there are a few tricks I will show you how to protect your grape vines while spraying weed-killer.

The first and probably the most important thing to remember, is to kill the weeds before you plant your grape vines.  This will ensure that for the first couple of weeks, your vineyard and young grape vines, will grow without competition for food and water.

However; as the growing season progress, the weeds will start to grow again and this is where the problems start.  With your new vines well established, you cannot simply go out and spray weed-killer again; you need to protect the young grape vines first.

If you grow grapes on small scale, you can simply protect the vines by covering it with a plastic carry-bag, while you spray the weed-killer.  Ensure that the outside of the bag (the area where the weed-killer came in contact with the bag), never touch the vegetative growth of the young grape vine.

The problem starts when you grow grapes on a larger scale.  It is simply impossible to cover every single grape vine with a bag, unless you have the these:

 

These are called trunk protecting tubes.  Normal growing tubes can also be used, but I personally don’t fancy the use of growing tubes, especially if you are going to leave them on the grape vines.  In our climate, I found that the micro-climate inside the tube, often gets too hot or humid and may damage the foliage or could lead to unwanted diseases.

Once the grape vines are planted and pruned back as described in the Complete Grape Growing System, you simply cut a tube of about 500 to 700mm in length.  Fold the tube into a small circle, that will go around the cutting.  When placing the tube over the cutting, ensure not to damage any buds and new shoots that may have developed from the cutting. 

After you have placed the tubes at the base of the cutting, you can tie your training strings to the bottom trellis wire.

When it is time for the weed-killer application, later on in the season, you simply unfold or extract the tube to it’s full length.

Once the spray application is complete, you need to wait a few hours for the weed-killer to dry off, and then again you fold down the tube into a circle and again place it at the base of the cutting.

You can also use plastic covers to keep the weeds away from the cuttings, but I will discuss this in more detail in another blog post.

Neat little trick, isn’t it?

Take care, and happy grape growing…

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com

Did you like this tip?  The Complete Grape Growing System has many more!

 

 

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The Complete Grape Growing System is a digital product.  You will not receive any physical products.

Being working online and offline with thousands of vineyard owners from all over the world, the past four years, I know that this question still remains a mystery.  Well, I’m about to show you proof that early pruning will for sure influence the time of bud break.

During the past dormant season, we started pruning before my staff took their annual vacation.  We stopped pruning one of my Flame Seedless vineyards, halfway through the vineyard, when it was time for them to take their vacation.  After two weeks, we came back and pruned the rest of the vineyard, as well as the rest of my farm.

Now from the pictures below, you can clearly see that the grape vines in the section we pruned two weeks earlier, have develop more leaves and that the shoot length is much longer.

 

Why? 

The buds at the tip of the canes come out of dormancy first.  This is the point where all the enzymes are transported to, as the sap flow in the vine increase.  Obviously, if there are less buds on the cane, more enzymes are available per bud and therefore, the buds will break earlier.

 Early pruning will not necessarily advance the harvest date.  The later vines will catch up, as the season progress, but one thing is for sure; it absolutely does advance bud break.  This is extremely important to know, if you live in a climate where early spring frost is a problem.  If you prune your grape vine too early, your grape vines will break bud too early and will increase the chance of frost damage. 

Now the question remains: “When is the best time to prune a grape vine?”  A rule of thumb is, to prune just before natural bud break, but this isn’t always feasible if you have acres of grape vines.   You need to know when bud break occurs in each of the vineyards or on each of your grape vines.  Each year, write down the dates of bud break, as this will give you more or less an idea of when you can expect it next year.  Although the annual climate, snowfall, rain and so on, will influence the actual date of bud break, it will give you more or less an idea of when this will happen.

On the other hand, pruning too late, also has it disadvantages.  If you start pruning too late (after bud bread), you will damage the cracked buds, and new shoots that developed.  If you damage the bud, the secondary bud will have to break to reveal a new shoot, and this will influence your crop size. 

Remember; after pruning, the canes are twisted and secured around the trellis wires.  If there are small shoots and cracked buds on this cane, you will damage them, no matter how careful you work.

To sum up this article:

• Early pruning does advance bud break, but not necessarily harvest date
• Do not prune too early if your location is known for heavy spring frost
• Write down the dates of bud break so you will know when to expect it
• Do not prune too late as well, as the chances of you damaging the buds and shoots is much higher.

Know you vineyard, know your climate and you will know when to prune.

Good luck and hopefully this article shed some light on the correct pruning date for your vineyard.

Danie

www.my-grape-vine.com 

Pruning your grape vine is one of the most important aspects of growing a grape vine the correct way.  Learn how, with the Complete Grape Growing System.

 

For only $47.95, you get instant access to all the grape growing information you need, PLUS get some bonus videos of how to prune and train a grape vine.

The Complete Grape Growing System is a digital product.  You will not receive any physical products.