I think Paul asks a good question - where you live and what you're
growing. Also, what pruning / trellising structure are you using? VSP?

I'm in the Sierra Foothills in Nor Cal, growing a number of varieties,
about 200 vines total. Right about now, each year, frost is my biggest
worry. I'm not sure why you pruned back to the ground - were the vines
so severely frost bitten that the trunk and crodons were dead wood?
That's a hellacious cold frost. When I get hit hard by frost, as I did
three yeas ago, I end up simply pruning as per normal, although I
sometimes lose spurs if no canes grew in any given spot. But usually
there is a second emergence most everywhere - even if not fruit bearing.

IMHO, I would not try to push more canes than 'normal'. It turns into a
canopy management nightmare. Worse, it screws up your spur patterns for
the following year. Glad to hear that you're dropping fruit still in
the 2nd & 3rd year. Let those vine roots establish first - many growers
take fruit in the 3rd year, but waiting to 4th year seems to me to
produce stronger vines (I've done both).

Speaking of frost - all vines but the Cab are now broken bud, and this
next few weeks is my "worry window". Light frost on the ground today -
nothing to worry about. But this clear cold weather is worrisome now
that the new leaves and canes are pushing out. My May 1st the frost
danger will be past, but I've been hit as late as April 19 in years
past. One of these days will get a sprinkler system out there.

Good luck!



On 2008-04-06 18:10:45 -0700, Dick Heckman > said:

> I have some vines that were hit hard by last year's Easter frost. I
> had to take many back to the ground. So I now have a mix of 2 and 3
> year old vines. Since I'll nip off almost all of the clusters, would
> it be better to allow some more buds than the average recommended buds
> per vine to get a few more leaves out for more nutrients for the vine
> or go with the data for a producing vine? This applies mostly to the 3
> yr vines. I'm not going to let them go wild but I'd like to build them
> up as much as possible.
>
> Dick