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Mike McGeough[_2_]

wrote:
> I agree with evrything Lon said. Laterals are grown by the vine to
> help it ripen the grapes. Pruning them off is not the right thing.

Bob:

I've got to disagree here. My experience in the rainy Northeast US is
that leaving the laterals on my FA hybrids, on my high-vigor site is a
recipe for dense, impenetrable growth , fungus problems, and undrerripe
fruit. My site gets 55 to 60 inches of rain, has some tall surrounding
trees, and is crossed by several springs & streams. Humidity is high
from now til the Fall, and then we get hurricanes. If I didn't pinch the
laterals, basal leaf strip, AND hedge the 6' canes as they reach the
ground, I'd get a poor crop this year and a really sparse one next year.

Wanna know how I know this? Well, let's just say I too read Dr Smart's
"Sunlight into Wine". What works in Australia & New Zealand Emphatically
doesn't work around here. It took a few years to experiment with and
recover from his advice.

I do agree that basal leaf pulling seems to have little effect on taste,
but we need to do it to air out the canopy. Besides, those leaves
don't feed the berries anyway.

To Paul:

It's my understanding that leaving the laterals results in a lot of
vegetative growth, and a higher percentage of very young leaves, in
almost a geometric progression. The problem is that the new leaves don't
become net exporters of carbohydrates until about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks of
age. If there are a lot of laterals, they seem to shade out the
middle-aged, carb exporting leaves deeper in the canopy, and the fruit
has delayed or incomplete ripening. Maybe it would be different in a
sunnier, drier climate.This is another counter-intuitive lesson that I
learned the hard way. I now remove all laterals and non-fruiting canes.

To Michael:

My main method of dealing with my enthusiastically growing vines is to
train them in the Sylvoz or High Curtain system, with a single wire at
about 6' and two movable catch wires. Cordons run left & right on the
wire, and canes are swept under the catch wires, which are gradually
lowered until the canes hang down. This really devigorates most
varieties and keeps the fruit at an easy picking height, and well above
soil splashed fungi & spores, something you probably need to consider too.
It also makes it easier to cover the rows with bird netting.
When the canes make it to the ground, they automatically get hedged when
I mow the grassy aisles.

I hope you can find some of these ideas useful

Great discussion, guys.

Mike

Mike MTM, Cokesbury, NJ, USA

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