Starting a Vineyard Part 15 - Summer Prunning 

Hi Jonny Nice suggestion, thank you. We are looking at doing something to help them through these long dry hot summers.

Hi Nick. It's absolutely fine to leave shoots to develop from the main fruiting line so long as these are held upwards in the catch wires. These will then form your leaf wall. These may not have grapes on them but they are creating energy that goes into the grapes. Get rid of any shoots that shield the grapes below the fruiting line and any shoots that get too tall or overflow outside the leaf wall. If it looks like it's getting out of control then you won't hurt the vine by thinning it, they are very hardy plants.

Many thanks for your reply that’s so helpful.

Hey. I have just asked a question above that you might find interesting if its answered. How big?

Hi there. You may well have a good point regarding monoculture. That said, certain vines especially the pure vitis vinifera cultivars like the Pinot Noir, Chadonnay and Bacchus varieties are much more susceptible to mildew infection than others. Even the growers in Germany suggest spraying these 6-8 times a year. The mildew itself initially comes from the ground and it could be that being in the relatively damp/humid UK climate, we may be a little more prone to fungal infections compared to drier climates.

You are quite right. We thought we should fill the rest of the field up with some more vines. We need some rain though...

@@mycountrylife810 I bet conditions are seriously tough for all those in agriculture. Fingers crossed it happens this week.

Hi Paul. That's great, hoping the 50 vines are doing well. 4 acres of vines will be amazing.

Hi Tim. Yup, good point. Videos will follow....

Hi Bill You have read my mind and the answer is yes yes yes.....we need to irrigate. Can you believe that we have been doing this by hand for the vines that we planted this year as their roots are simply not deep enough to get the moisture. The older more established vines that you see in this video really need water even though they look ok (ie. green) and with hindsight we should have irrigated these too. Hopefully rain will come in the next few days, but if summers are going to be this hot and dry then we will have to have a rethink regarding irrigation.

@@mycountrylife810 thanks for the reply, so I think I'll be irrigating my vineyard (goes in next march) for the first few years if the summers are like this..... better start planning for that, didn't really occur to me about the younger plants and the route depth, thanks.

Hi there. 100 is perfect. Not too big but not too small. After a few years once the vines have become established, you will get a useful quantity of grapes. And with that quantity you can easily make the wine yourself with relatively little investment. Remember that each vine should produce upto about 2-3 bottles of wine.

@@mycountrylife810 thank you. I shall pass this on. 👍

Hi there. We use a variety of sprayers in the vineyard now. From hand sprayers to a petrol driven backpack sprayer (from ebay) and the tractor driven airspayer that is made by Berthoud.

Hi there. Thank you for asking. Not bad at all. Wine is fermenting as I write. We did have a mildew problem that reduced our overall yield, but we'll hit it hard next year and hopefully reap the benefits. Video coming soon on it.....

@@mycountrylife810 sounds good! Can't wait and hope the wine will be tasty

Hi there. Volume was quite low given that the voices were still only 2 years old, bit the wine was quite a crisp dry wine with alcohol of 11%. Very palatable (it didn't last long!!). I'm not a very good wine taster but to me it was comparable to other Bacchus whites. Hoping for better volumes this year...

Hi there. Very interesting. Does that method of pruning have a name and who uses it commerically. Although 30kg of grapes per vine sounds great, would this translate into 30kg of quality grapes? I suspect that this method may work better if the spacing between vines and rows is increased so that the leaves dangling down don't fall into shadow. But as I say very interesting and thank you for sharing.

@@mycountrylife810 Tier pruning is invented by me. I am a biological gardener and I collected grapes from old vineyards in Israel of the Sauvignon type. Tierpruning is pruning is utilized by me by necessity as I have a shady garden. SPALIER pruning can be done like with fruit trees like peach. You keep the leaves on the old branches and lead them such that they don't shade the grapes. Three levels instead of just one. You only have to add two levels to existing vineyards. Now you bend over to harvest grapes at knee height but you add grapes on belly height and head height. There is so much space that is under utilized in a vineyard. Behind the rows of grapes, on the ground or above it. Just let the sun reach the grapes. One grapevine, if growth is unimpended, can cover a walnut tree. Just stop with the madness of keeping the vines small with just a few fruitbearing branches and growing grapes UINDER the canopy of leaves. The sky is the limit. I harvest my grapes up to the height of four meters. This year I harvested already in August. Ripe, sweet and everything. No spraying, letting birds eat the fruits that I cannot reach. No netting. Next year I hope to harvest 50 kilo of grapes. Your vines want to produce! LET THEM DO SO.