Week 6 (July 8th - 12th)

This Eden-like week brought about many changes in the vineyard. Shoots tips have exploded in length, lateral shoot growth is taking off, berries are now approaching marble size, and thankfully the sucker production is slowing down. With all this added growth the vine shoots are in need of shoot re-positioning, or as we call it "combing", so that they can intercept the most amount of light. If the canopy gets too crowded, then the threat of disease exponentially increases, while the quality of the berry decreases. Since we are growing all of our vines for research purposes, in general we don't spend too much time altering their growth habits. We want to observe the quality of the growth and fruit of each plant in its natural setting, so that in the future we can further analyze and cross vines that require the least amount of input, while producing the best/most grapes. However, vines that are going through their second test get pampered since they may soon be candidates for commercial growers. 

Some vines are over-cropped now that the berries are increasing in size. Vines which are candidates for wine testing, the second tests, therefore need to have their number of clusters reduced so that the fruit is able to adequately ripen. As a general rule every cluster requires five leaves worth of energy to be able to fully ripen by the end of the season. This means that if a shoot is stunted, say only five nodes long, we have to reduce the number of clusters down to one. 

This is a serious case of downy mildew on a cluster that was hidden deep within the canopy. Once affected the fruit is unable to recover. This, along with black rot, powdery mildew, phomopsis, and anthracnose, concern growers the most. In order to control them, grape growers balance their pruning techniques/spraying programs on a weekly basis.

We are "skirting" the vines now (or as I prefer "tip-nipping") so that the shoots don't reach the ground. This allows more air to flow through the vineyard, which helps dry out the morning dew, while at the same time making suckering, spraying, and mowing easier. The best candidates for patentable vines naturally fizzle out their growth once the shoots reach 15 nodes, which can support three clusters. This also eliminates the need to skirt. 

A large task of mine this week was pruning new vines down to one shoot. When selecting the favorable shoot, I would need to take into consideration factors like shoot vigor, position, health, etc. Once I narrowed it down, I would tape the shoots to the bamboo with a tape gun so that the new trunks are established as straight as possible.