Hello again and apologies. “I been gone too long”. I am back now and will resume a regular dialog.
It has been awhile since harvest and winter was supposed to be here but it hasn’t shown up yet. Two days ago we made it to 83 degrees F and we will probably make it to 80 today.
We are pruning our vines as fast as we can. Grapevines, being perennial, do not have a beginning and end of their growth cycle but I always feel pruning is the beginning. It is now that we try to regulate to the growth and fruit we will see in the coming season. TRY. Because of the forward thinking required it is full of hope. “if we cut this then that will happen and then next year we will have this to work with’.
Pruning grapevines is different than pruning most other fruiting perennials. We actually remove ~95% of the past year’s growth. This is an extraordinary amount of pruning. Try imagining removing 95% of your apple tree every year.
All is good and even though we do not expect it to be 80 degrees we have little to do about it but to enjoy the sun and fill our heads with the hope of a great 2018.
Today’s pictures include before and after pruning accompanied by a photo of the pruners at work.
