Jerry,

Well I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this pruning challenge. I
feel I might be beginning to get a picture now, regarding what is generally
allowed to remain and what is not. As you say, we are so early into the
season, whatever is removed at this stage has several weeks to grow back in.
All in all, I'm perceiving shoot removal is a judgement call, pertaining to
varietal, location, training system and several other variables. I guess one
has to simply get in sync with his own vines.

Our growing season here in southern ontario has also been schizophrenic.
Lengthy amounts of sun and warmth, followed by a rain, followed by mixed sun
and cloud, and the cycle starts over again.

I made a judgement call and pruned today, foreseeing the potential
congestion of vegetation as the season gets into full swing. I've cleaned my
trunks and the base of my canes as well, except for lower shoots I plan to
grow into next years fruiting canes (I cane prune, to keep things simple for
the time being).

Strangely, a few of my vines are not fruiting at all, for reasons I have not
come to terms with yet. I have removed quite a bit of vegetation from them,
save choice shoots for next year.

I'll wait and see what happens to the vineyard next, and make a decision
based on how my vines react to what I did today.

All the best for your own vines, and growing season

Jeff

"Jerry DeAngelis" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Jeff et all
>
> First point: This is one of the best discussions I have seen on this News
> group, vis-a-vis pruning, canes, spurs, growth etc. Second: I am glad to
> see that there are many who have questions related to vigor and growth
> this year, as we have been having amazing growth here on the Central Coast
> of California. We have the same questions. Interestingly, as we visit
> vineyards in the area, it seems that all theories of viticulture abound.
> Perhaps there are few "right" or "wrong" answers.
>
> We have internodal distances of 6 and 8 inches on the new canes! (Spur
> distance is 4-5 inches) We barely finish pruning the 15th row, and it
> seems as if the 1st row needs attention again. Usually we keep our trunks
> clean of any kind of growth so that the energy is targeted at the new
> fruit and the leaves necessary to nourish them. This year we have left
> some trunk growth on the plants longer than in the past in an attempt to
> slow them down a bit, and do removing them, but not as diligently as we
> have in our previous 6 growing seasons.
>
> It has been a very wet year here, and the soil is still damp a few inches
> below the surface. We have had to leaf and lateral thin twice already
> just to be able to see the fruit! Someone noted that taking off leaves
> and laterals now was not a problem as there would be plenty of growth to
> come. Absolutely our case and belief. While admittedly a bit lax on the
> trunks this year, we have been a bit more aggressive on the canopy side
> this year, as we see how fast the vines are growing. The fruit crop is
> more plentiful than normal, and at this point we are letting it grow to
> stress the plants a bit. We will drop some later.
>
> In all, this has been a schizophrenic growing season for us thus far, and
> it has only just begun!
>
> Regards
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
>
>
> "jeff" > wrote in message
> ...
>> on fruiting canes developing a series of fruit bearing shoots, as well as
>> non-fruiting shoots...should non-fruiting shoots generally be pinched
>> off, or should they be left on for photosynthetic value?
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>
>