Pruned my vines today... picture!

[v8rx7guy]

I decided that although late demember isnt the perfect time to prune, I had the day off and wanted to get it done. This is the 3rd leaf for these Regent vines. I am attempting what I believe is VSP trellising, but I have read so many opinions on what that means that I am still not exactly sure if I am doing it right. This year I formed the 2nd cordon this with this summer's growth. I found that the vines weren't very pliable so I am slowly bending them into position before I anchor them to the cordon wire. The other cordon is now two year old growth with the starting of the spurs. This is the south facing wall of my garage, I am in NW washington state. Wondering what you all think!

 

[Johny99]

Looks really good to me. I usually train both cordons at the same time, but what you are doing is just fine. Fruiting wire is a bit low for me, mine are at 40 inches, but that is a personal preference. You should be able to take a small crop from the mature canes, I'd limit to one cluster per shoot just to make sure the vines get good nutrition for another year. On my side of the mountains I'd be worried about sun warming reflecting off the south facing wall causing early budding. I'd be less concerned on your side and a vineyard is a compromise of where you can do it!

Keep us posted, look great! I'll be curious to compare your bud break with mine.

 

[v8rx7guy]

Looks really good to me. I usually train both cordons at the same time, but what you are doing is just fine. Fruiting wire is a bit low for me, mine are at 40 inches, but that is a personal preference. You should be able to take a small crop from the mature canes, I'd limit to one cluster per shoot just to make sure the vines get good nutrition for another year. On my side of the mountains I'd be worried about sun warming reflecting off the south facing wall causing early budding. I'd be less concerned on your side and a vineyard is a compromise of where you can do it!

Keep us posted, look great! I'll be curious to compare your bud break with mine.

Cool... thanks for the response. I believe my fruiting wire is at 30in here... thats from the top of the mound. This was my "prototype" test plot before planting 50 more vines at my parents-in-law... we went 36in there, so I agree a bit higher on these would have been nice. Those 50 vines are a year behind so I am just starting to work at getting the first cordon going there... what a lot of work... but a labor of love!

I will make sure to post up when I see buds... looking back at my notes for 2016, first buds appeared on 3/25 and flowering begand on 5/29. So we will see how 2017 goes.

 

[CTDrew]

Looking nice! Still too early in my neck of the woods for me to think about pruning, we had snow today and generally nasty out. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[grapeman]

I'm working on the inside these days here. Just to cold to want to work outside here (although it isn't too brutal yet).