# Pruned two weeks before a very hard freeze...



## dwhill40 (Jan 11, 2014)

So I'm a little anxious about the timing of my first pruning. Normally our winters maybe get down to 15-20 degrees. I brutally pruned my new vines for shaping meaning I cut big limbs off the main stalk close to the graft about 12 days prior to a 3 degree night. We had many below freezing nights prior to the pruning so I have no doubt the vines had hardened but 3 degrees is frickin' cold. Any one have experience with this situation? Will the open wound freeze easier than leaving them unpruned until March? 

I'm growing vinifera, mostly cabernet sauv. some grafted, some own-rooted.


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## grapeman (Jan 11, 2014)

That is the reason I wait until spring to prune. You never know when you will get a cold weather extreme event. If you prune to the final number of buds early and you get an extreme freeze, you have no way to adjust the number of retained buds. Keep your fingers crossed they did not freeze too hard.


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## Turock (Jan 11, 2014)

I agree with grapeman. We have a small vineyard, and we always prune in the spring, before budding so you aren't knocking off the buds. The large commercial vineyards here start pruning around Thanksgiving. But I have never seen them out pruning this time of year. Your winters are mostly like ours--but you have the potential of much colder weather, like we just went thru. It's always good to use caution and not let your cabin fever over-run your logic.


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## dwhill40 (Jan 11, 2014)

Thanks for the reply Grapeman. I guess worst case I might get to try my hand a grafting sooner than I expected. It's all a learning thing a this point so I'll consider it a lesson. 

Bad results from an experiment doesn't mean the experiment was bad just the results were.


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## dwhill40 (Mar 28, 2014)

Didn't hurt them at all. Took a sharp knife and tested my vines last week. All but the very ends are green juicy and ready to break with warm weather.


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## grapeman (Mar 28, 2014)

That's great! I hope they grow well this year and you can get the trunks growing well this year.


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## dwhill40 (Mar 28, 2014)

We haven't had that artic express shoot down into the deep south for decades. I saw the weather model and it was an "oh sh#t" moment. Lesson learned.


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## dwhill40 (Apr 6, 2020)

Beginning my eight year of growing vinifera in the south. Every year is a new lesson. This board has been very helpful.


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## Dennis Griffith (Apr 7, 2020)

Nice looking vines..


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## ibglowin (Apr 7, 2020)

How are you keeping Pierces Disease at bay? Your in Alabama correct?



dwhill40 said:


> Beginning my eight year of growing vinifera in the south. Every year is a new lesson. This board has been very helpful.


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## dwhill40 (Apr 7, 2020)

I apply a small dose of imidacloprid via micro-drip irrigation when the shoots are a couple of inches once a year. I also have several Cab and Petit Manseng vines growing on their own roots. I haven't lost a vine to PD or Phylloxera. Last year I lost a mature vine to downy mildew before I realized my fungicide rotation was no longer working. Agri-phos and Captan saved the vineyard after an almost complete defoliation.


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## Ricky2Guns (Apr 19, 2020)

dwhill40 said:


> Beginning my eight year of growing vinifera in the south. Every year is a new lesson. This board has been very helpful.View attachment 59887


Looks awesome, I’m only in year 3 on a back yard 9 vine micro vineyard, lol. Can’t wait to see girth on these trunks and cordons.


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