A prunning observation

[Sage]

Last year we had good weather after a very cold spell in Nov. I had everything pruned and cleaned up by late dec.

Right now the vines are just starting get a good bud swell.

A few days back, I was in the vineyard and as usual was carrying my hand prunners. I nipped off one old shoot that was too long. The juice just flowed right away. I was in there yesterday and it was still flowing but none of the shoots prunned last year were bleeding.

This made me wonder just how much of the plants vigor is lost to late prunning and bleeding? Prune after the leaves fall and no bleeding or very limited. Prune in the spring and much bleeding.

Now I will watch to see if I can see a difference. Your take on this??

 

[salcoco]

when you pruned in the fall the grapes are probably already dormant and the sap has receded to the roots. the prune cut has healed and sealed over the winter. your spring cut is fresh and the sap has returned to the whole vine, therefore the bleeding of the sap. I do not believe vigor will be affected. an early spring pruning,Feb or March, also would preclude bleeding.

 

[Sage]

when you pruned in the fall the grapes are probably already dormant and the sap has receded to the roots. the prune cut has healed and sealed over the winter. your spring cut is fresh and the sap has returned to the whole vine, therefore the bleeding of the sap. I do not believe vigor will be affected. an early spring pruning,Feb or March, also would preclude bleeding.

My experience in the past has been later than Jan and I had some bleeding. March, quite a bit. Losing a lot of sap has to have some affect. That would have been put into growth or grapes is the question?

My first vineyard was planted in 1989 and the records for it are long gone as are most of my memory of it as far as the prunning. I do remember the amount of bleeding was directly related to when I pruned and the amount and time it took to heal over. I never kept track of the actual production related to it.

This is a very early spring here and it will also have some effect.

 

[TonyR]

I think if you are in an area were rainfall is limited and you must use irrigation to keep things growing, any vine bleeding can have a very negitive impact on your vines. Were i live we get 50 to 55 inches of rain and snow melt per year. My vines can bleed all they want and don't think i will have problems. ::

 

[ceeaton]

I might be wrong, but I thought the reason to prune in late Winter was to be able to assess any bud loss and compensate by leaving more buds if it was a bad winter? By pruning in the fall you are locked in to the number of buds you leave, so how do you compensate for bud loss due to a severe winter?

 

[Sage]

I might be wrong, but I thought the reason to prune in late Winter was to be able to assess any bud loss and compensate by leaving more buds if it was a bad winter? By pruning in the fall you are locked in to the number of buds you leave, so how do you compensate for bud loss due to a severe winter?

When I prune early, as I did last year, I "prune long". I leave an extra long vine with extra buds. As soon as I have good vines growing, I will thin as needed. I was concerned last year and also left more branching than usual. I'm still not out of the woods and a late frost is still a possible.

 

[tdah1986]

I did both an early prune (early December) and late prune (mid Feb) this year, in the UK. I kept the prunings from the late prune and planted them to see how they go - the buds on the cuttings are much more developed than those left on the vine - not sure whether it's a temperature thing (they are in a propagator) or whether it's something to do with higher buds being better prepared for budbreak?

I've also seen that the highest buds that I left on the vines that didn't get a late pruning are doing better than the highest after pruning, if that makes sense

 

[mgmarty]

I think your making a big deal out of nothing. If you prune, and there is moisture in the ground, than the vine will run sap. It's like a river running past a wheat field. Is the wheat field at a lose cause all that water is running past it, not through it. I think not.

 

[Runningwolf]

Concords are pruned around here right after harvest while the workers can still get into the vineyards before snowfall. The hybrids and vinifera are pruned late in the winter once the workers can get back into the vineyards.

 

[Sage]

Concords are pruned around here right after harvest while the workers can still get into the vineyards before snowfall. The hybrids and vinifera are pruned late in the winter once the workers can get back into the vineyards.

Do you know the reasoning behind this schedule?

 

[Runningwolf]

With over 30,000 acres along a 50 mile stretch of Concord Grapes to prune they need to start early, especially since you can't hardly get into vineyards during several months of the winter. Besides pruning you're replacing from hundreds to thousands of posts plus wire.