LISTENING TO EVERY VARIETAL: In gardening, pruning must always be guided by purpose. That is the most important aspect of pruning. First define your pruning philosophy, only then prune. DON'T SIMPLY FOLLOW OTHERS! Pruning philosophies can differ quite a bit. Most vine pruning philosophies focus on the needs of the owner of the vineyard. I am a gardener and my purpose is to grow grapevines in which every individual varietal 'tells' me how 'it wants to be pruned'. In your video, you prune all of your varietals in exactly the same manner unless there is damage. At this moment I have some 40 different varietals and almost every varietal is pruned in a different way from the others, some in a similar way, some hardly pruned at all. I let every grapevine 'tell' me what kind of pruning 'it' wants. It 'tells me' by the way of growth. Example: Riesling and Johaniter are grown here side by side, in a similar terroir. But even though they were planted at the same time, Johaniter is now three meters (9 feet) tall, while Riesling is still only 90 cm (3 feet) tall. Why? Johaniter enjoys the terroir, while Riesling dislikes the terroir I planted it in. I had another grapevine Bianco, that grew even less vigorous than my Riesling, I only held on to 1 shoot that I allowed to grow out. In the third year, Bianco started to grow more than just a few leaves and only then I started pruning it. I have unfavorable lighting for vines when they are small, so they don't grow fast in the beginning. Bianco and Riesling were not pruned in the first 3 years. Bianco responded better to the terroir than Riesling. That is why Bianco is now 3 meters high and now grows in good light, just as Johaniter which is now the most vigorous of the three. This story shows that 'listening to the voice of every varietal" may make a huge difference in end results. In my backgarden, I have a single blue Glenora that yielded 30 kilo's of sweet grapes in August, in a terroir that is unfavorable for grapevines. I am a biological gardener, I 'listen' to what my plants and trees 'tell' me. We all hear that you need to plant grapevines in full sun, which I simply don't have available. I heard from one of my homecare clients that she had similar results with just one grapevine 'Blue Boskoop', a Dutch varietal. She planted it herself and it also produced 20 kilo's of grapes yearly. In a favorable terroir, you can have your pruning philosophy portrayed in the video and eventually have harvests of between 3 - 10 kilo's of grapes. In the 'listen to your grapevine', if they survive, you can harvest 3 times as much. I hope to add another 60 different types of grapes. Every year I hope to harvest three times the amount of the previous year. EVERY VARIETAL IS DIFFERENT AND RESPONDS DIFFERENTLY TO A RANGE OF TERROIRS. BEING FLEXIBLE IN PRUNING PHILOSOPHY, CAN PRODUCE AMAZING HARVESTS. BEING RIGID IN PRUNING PHILOSOPHY CAN SPELL DISASTER FOR THE VINEYARD. Climate change is here to stay. Wineries the world over go bankrupt. Why? THE INABILITY TO ADAPT TO A CHANGING MARKET AND/OR CHANGING TERROIR RESULTS IN INSOLVENCY.
Thanks for sharing! I learn so much 🙂
Thanks for watching!
LISTENING TO EVERY VARIETAL: In gardening, pruning must always be guided by purpose. That is the most important aspect of pruning. First define your pruning philosophy, only then prune. DON'T SIMPLY FOLLOW OTHERS! Pruning philosophies can differ quite a bit. Most vine pruning philosophies focus on the needs of the owner of the vineyard. I am a gardener and my purpose is to grow grapevines in which every individual varietal 'tells' me how 'it wants to be pruned'. In your video, you prune all of your varietals in exactly the same manner unless there is damage. At this moment I have some 40 different varietals and almost every varietal is pruned in a different way from the others, some in a similar way, some hardly pruned at all. I let every grapevine 'tell' me what kind of pruning 'it' wants. It 'tells me' by the way of growth. Example: Riesling and Johaniter are grown here side by side, in a similar terroir. But even though they were planted at the same time, Johaniter is now three meters (9 feet) tall, while Riesling is still only 90 cm (3 feet) tall. Why? Johaniter enjoys the terroir, while Riesling dislikes the terroir I planted it in. I had another grapevine Bianco, that grew even less vigorous than my Riesling, I only held on to 1 shoot that I allowed to grow out. In the third year, Bianco started to grow more than just a few leaves and only then I started pruning it. I have unfavorable lighting for vines when they are small, so they don't grow fast in the beginning. Bianco and Riesling were not pruned in the first 3 years. Bianco responded better to the terroir than Riesling. That is why Bianco is now 3 meters high and now grows in good light, just as Johaniter which is now the most vigorous of the three. This story shows that 'listening to the voice of every varietal" may make a huge difference in end results. In my backgarden, I have a single blue Glenora that yielded 30 kilo's of sweet grapes in August, in a terroir that is unfavorable for grapevines. I am a biological gardener, I 'listen' to what my plants and trees 'tell' me. We all hear that you need to plant grapevines in full sun, which I simply don't have available. I heard from one of my homecare clients that she had similar results with just one grapevine 'Blue Boskoop', a Dutch varietal. She planted it herself and it also produced 20 kilo's of grapes yearly. In a favorable terroir, you can have your pruning philosophy portrayed in the video and eventually have harvests of between 3 - 10 kilo's of grapes. In the 'listen to your grapevine', if they survive, you can harvest 3 times as much. I hope to add another 60 different types of grapes. Every year I hope to harvest three times the amount of the previous year. EVERY VARIETAL IS DIFFERENT AND RESPONDS DIFFERENTLY TO A RANGE OF TERROIRS. BEING FLEXIBLE IN PRUNING PHILOSOPHY, CAN PRODUCE AMAZING HARVESTS. BEING RIGID IN PRUNING PHILOSOPHY CAN SPELL DISASTER FOR THE VINEYARD. Climate change is here to stay. Wineries the world over go bankrupt. Why? THE INABILITY TO ADAPT TO A CHANGING MARKET AND/OR CHANGING TERROIR RESULTS IN INSOLVENCY.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Grant.
I am also growing Head trained vines.
I have 3 ft stakes.
I believe you said cut at 4 inches above the stake?
That's an approximation. What you are looking for is a bud above the top of the stake and one just below.