How many spurs?

[codeman]

3 questions. Vineyard is in the Willamette Valley with very good soil.

I'm growing Gewurz in an Alcace style training system.
Should I trim the renewal canes to 6 buds per side? (12 per plant) or leave them 'natural length'

Also growing Pinot Noir and Viognier in bi-lateral cane training. (I think that's what it's called). (Each fruiting cane is renewed yearly)
Should I trim the canes to 6 buds per side or trim them just long enough so plants aren't touching each other? (Plants are 5 feet apart)

Also growing Cabernet Sauvignon. Is bi-lateral cordon spur training best for this? If so, how many spurs oer side? Is 6 ok? (12 per plant)

 

[oregondabbler]

I'm assuming the vines are already established. If the vines are really vigorous I'd leave them at natural length. If the vines aren't vigorous then prune the cane back. I'm in the Willamette Valley too and use the same pruning method that you describe. I'm not familiar with cordon spur training.

If you want to get into detailed analysis, you can use dormant pruning weight to measure vine vigor. Of course its too late to try taking a measurement now but maybe next year? The following link describes this measurement method. Later on, measure the weight of fruit harvested and calculate the ratio between pruning weight and harvest wt. Then you adjust the ratio up or down when pruning the next season, once you have a track record.

The link below talks about how to measure dormant pruning weight:

http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/39902/em9069.pdf

 

[codeman]

Thanks for the info.
I've heard that cordon spur is good for Cab Sauv because it has a tendency to produce 'blind' buds on canes. I have no idea how common that is though.