Pruning Wine Grapes - PA Wine Grape Growers Network

Pruning Wine Grapes
Mark L. Chien
Viticulture Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
http://pawinegrape.com/
Workshop Goals
• Teach how to prune the two primary commercial vineyard
systems:
– Head trained/cane pruned
– Cordon trained/spur pruned
• Trellis and training systems
• Vine size and balance and balanced pruning
• Pruning equipment and supplies
• You cannot learn to prune a vine by reading a book or
coming to a 3 hr workshop. Learn by doing!
Temperance Hill Vineyard
105 acres: 85,000+ vines
Key Viticulture Goals
• Ripen grapes to optimal maturity
• Ripen wood to maximum maturity for cold
hardiness
• Uniformity within and between vines
• Keep grapes free of disease and pests
Cordon trained, spur pruned
Vines at Clovis Point on
Long Island
Proper Pruning Begins Before Vines are
Planted
• Decide what kind of wine is being grown
• Choose a site to support that decision and create a balanced
vine
• Correct vineyard design and installation to achieve a
balanced vine
• Apply proper vineyard management to encourage vine
balance each year
Why We Prune
• The big decisions have been made
Now you have to live with them!
• Size and shape the vine
for performance and management
• Balance the vine for optimal vegetative growth and amount of fruit
(reproduction), first attempt at crop and canopy management
• Create as strong and healthy vine
• Select nodes/shoots for best possible quality and position
• Fill trellis space for optimal production and profit
Pruning Grapes
• Hard work
• Cold work
• Requires a firm back
• Require the right equipment
• Requires skill, knowledge,
creativity, experience and
patience
Getting Ready to Prune…
• Use the right equipment, it needs to be comfortable and the right tool for the
job!
• Quality of work and comfort are directly related: wear the right gear
according to the conditions
• Stay warm and dry, especially the hands, head and feet
• Learn while you work: NPR, books, etc.
• Take breaks. Have hot drinks and water available
• Sharpening stones and oil
• Flagging material, ties, note pad, etc.
• First-aid supplies available
The Basics: Pruning Shear, Lopper and Saw
Felco #2
Felco #6
Other things you need:
Corona B3225
Folding Saw
• Grinder
• Wet stone and oils
• Hand stones
• WD-40
• Spare blades and parts
How to
avoid carpal
tunnel syndrome
Keys to Pruning Success
Keep ‘em sharp
• How to sharpen loppers and shears
– In the field
– In the shop
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Strip them down and oil them
Always have replacement parts on hand
Be careful. Emphasize safety, especially with non-manual systems!
Work with and supervise your crew. Only you can assess the quality of
the work!
Suppliers
http://www.orchardvalleysupply.com/
http://www.gemplers.com/
Vine Size and Balance and Balanced Pruning
• The concept of vine size and balance
• What is the ideal vine size and balance for your vineyard?
• A balanced vine begins before vines are planted with proper soil
evaluation
– soil capacity: water and nutrients
– vine vigor: variety, clone, rootstock
• Balancing mature vines.
• Making adjustments in the vineyard
– Extra buds (high vigor): kicker canes, more/longer spurs, divided
canopies
– Fewer buds (low vigor): smaller vine
• Benefits
– Disease control
– Improved fruit quality and quantity
What balance looks like . . .
Smart’s Golden Rules
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12-16 nodes per pound of pruning weight
5-10 lb of fruit per pound of pruning weight
0.2-0.4 pounds of pruning weight per linear foot of trellis
4-5 shoots per linear foot of trellis (super high quality
vinifera 2-4)
Interpretive Pruning
• based on experience
• visual adjustment
• shoot length and canopy fill
tell the story of balance
• why is vine too big or
too small?
From: Intrieri and Filipetti American Journal of Enology and
Viticulture, 50th Anniversary
Mark’s Golden Rules
• Have a concept of what you are pruning towards visually, philosophically
and economically
• Keep trellis full, vines in full production for maximum balance yield,
quality and profit
• Prune for production first, then position and shape – think one year ahead
• Anticipate. If something goes away how will you most quickly replace it
• Efficiency: prune well to maximize all vineyard operations and practices
• Experience: get the same people to prune every year
Classic cordon training
with spur pruning
Jonata Vineyard in Santa Barbara County
Beckstoffer To Kalon in Napa Valley
Araujo Eisele in Napa Valley
Too many nodes, too little space
The shoot crowding that results from incorrect vine spacing
Pruning Guidelines
• Prune for crop first, position second and always for vine shape
• Stop, look and think and select and check fruiting wood first then
prune around it
• Measure twice, cut once rule. Once you cut it’s gone.
• Prune for sun canes
• Do not use laterals for fruiting wood
• Make clean cuts, close to the old wood
• Check wood quality, especially in cane pruning for dead wood
• Use the right tool for the right cut
• Leave 1” from tips of canes and spurs
• Cut with angle down and away from tip
• Do not let spurs get too long
• Leave 6-8” between end of shoots and canes
• Do not let the head area get too crowded – renewal spurs, suckers, etc.
• Prune to 5/8 inch or pencil diameter
• Vigorous vines: more buds. Weak vines: fewer bud
• Check for trunk diseases: Eutypa, Botryosphaeria, Petri disease
Guidelines, continued…
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Keep pruning tool clean, sharp and oiled
Sanitize if there is disease: clorox in a spray bottle
Do not cut wires or stakes
Leave extra canes or spurs, double prune, insurance
Tendrils – cut now or later
Old ties and junk on the trellis
Mark vines that need to be revisited
To tie or not to tie . . .
Classic head training with cane pruning
2 cane, no renewal
pruning at Karamoor
Vineyard
Cane vs. Spur Pruning?
Spur: traditional in warm areas
Cane: traditional in cool areas
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Easier?
Faster?
Less labor – no tying
More uniform shoot growth
across a longer vine spacing
• Double pruning for frost
avoidance
• Easier to mechanize and preprune
Fewer pruning cuts
Better bud fertility
Less shoot thinning
Don’t have to renew spur positions
Less permanent wood, possibly less
disease pressure and fewer problems
with trunk diseases
• Less perennial wood may reduce
overall vine vigor
Antinori in Tuscany
New and Young Vine Pruning and Training
It’s all about…
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root development and establishment
developing permanent vine superstructure
a straight trunk(s) and well-established cordon arms
One or two trunks?
the right vine spacing to achieve a balanced vine
…are you going to crop in 2nd or 3rd year?
relative vine vigor
How low to go? 2 bud, half-way, fruit wire?
Pruner’s Worst Enemy: Winter Injury
Winter and Frost Injury to Vines
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Information resources
– Bob Pool’s web site:
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/pool/GrapePagesIndex.html
– Winter Injury and Methods of Protection. Zabadal, et. al.
Prune according to cold hardiness of varieties and value
– Native > white hybrid > red hybrid > white vinifera > red vinifera
Double prune vines
Assessing bud and vine damage
Leave extra buds – long spurs or extra canes
Do extra trunks help?
Keep your vines in balance and in good health
Site selection: wet and cool soils
Pulling Brush
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Removing 90+ percent of previous year’s growth
Teams of 2 – one cut, one pull and switch
Cut tendrils and remove brush
Pull down and away on VSP
Safety glasses
Pull into every other row
Remove or burn in place or chop?
– Disease
– fertilizer
Brush Disposal/Sanitation
• Burn in or out of vineyard
• Chop it
• Fungal diseases
Tying and Training Vines
• Use the right tying material
– Agtyes for trunks and cordons
– Tytape for canes and shoots
– Bread ties for fruiting canes
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Timing: when the sap flows but well before bud break
Cracking cold weather canes
Leave extra nodes then prune to correct length
Do not over-wrap canes on fruiting wire
Tie off the ends securely, leave 6-8” between canes or
cordons
• Kicker canes
Trellis and Training Systems for Wine Grapes
• Single, vertical canopy
– Vertical Shoot Position
– High wire cane or cordon (hanging
• Divided vertical canopies
– Scott Henry
– Smart-Dyson
• Divided horizontal canopies
– Geneva Double Curtain
– Lyre
Head Trained –Spur Pruned Vines
High wire cane system in Oregon
Vertically divided Scott Henry at Paradocx Vineyard in Chester County
Smart-Dyson
Training at
Mica Ridge
in Chester
County
Lyre Trained Vines
At Horton Vineyards
In Virginia
ed by Dr. Nelson Shaulis
nell University
Great shoot positioning on GDC
at Chrysalis Vineyard in Virginia
Cane and spur pruning videos for Oregon State University
http://wine.oregonstate.edu/vineyard
Start by reading then ….
…learn by doing !!!
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Get a job or volunteer at a good vineyard
Find someone knowledgeable to train you
Don’t pick up bad habits
Practice (preferably on someone else’s vines)
Understand the principles and practices
Do it right from the start: vine training and pruning
Visit vineyards in the winter and summer and observe,
remember and learn
• Ask good questions
If your vines look like this it’s time for a career change!
Any Questions??
Mark L. Chien
Viticulture Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Lancaster, PA
http://pawinegrape.com/