"Besides, those leaves
don't feed the berries anyway. "

Oh yeah they do. They are actually the most important on the shoot.



Jun 23, 8:03 pm, Mike McGeough > wrote:
> 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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