Do you pick leaves and small grapes

[David Engel]

Hi All,

My tiny vineyard is doing well this season, my 5 year old Merlot is doing exceptionally well… I think. Couple of questions for you veterans. The clusters are all growing, several are what you would expect (like in the you tube videos from Napa) and, then there are some that have a mix of big grapes and some that decided not to start growing. What causes that? I literally have a cluster at every node on the 2 cordons. Too many?

I also have leaves in the fruiting area that are getting blotchy red on them and some being eaten by spider mites. Do you pluck these out or let everything just grow? Why or why not?

Dave

 

[David Engel]

Moved to the vineyard forum.

 

[wood1954]

I pick any grapes that look like they won’t ripen as well as any that split. I also remove any leaves that look diseased.

 

[balatonwine]

My tiny vineyard is doing well this season, my 5 year old Merlot is doing exceptionally well… I think. Couple of questions for you veterans. The clusters are all growing, several are what you would expect (like in the you tube videos from Napa) and, then there are some that have a mix of big grapes and some that decided not to start growing. What causes that?

If you have poor fruit set, there can be a number reasons. See for example:

https://grapes.extension.org/causes-of-poor-fruit-set-in-grapes/

I literally have a cluster at every node on the 2 cordons. Too many?

It depends on factors such as how long are your cordons, how many clusters per node, etc. Many vines will create at least 3 clusters per node or more. Some wine makers will cluster thin clusters before flowering to 2 clusters for each node of the current year's growth. Any clusters that form beyond that later in the season are removed.

I also have leaves in the fruiting area that are getting blotchy red on them and some being eaten by spider mites. Do you pluck these out or let everything just grow? Why or why not?

Yes, you can remove leaves that are diseased.

Leaf removal of some healthy leaves around the fruit zone is also done by some often soon after fruit set, to help with spraying and later ripening and harvesting. But one needs to be careful not to remove too many, or in the wrong way as that can also in some cases expose grapes too much, leading to sun scalding.

Hope this helps.