Today we're going to finish up where we
started last year, it took us a year to get here but here we are. So, we're going to
prune these vines after a year's growth okay so, that's our goal. Is to take them from where
they were two-budded last year, to where they're up on the trellis this year. Before we get
started, I'd like displaying a couple of things: number one is the kind of pruners I like to
use, and you may be familiar with them you may not but let's talk about them for just
a moment. First of all, we have this type of pruner it's an anvil pruner and if you look at it
closely you can see where that blade hits a metal surface every time you prune. That is one thing
going against it, it dulls your blade quickly, and also it will smash the wood and not cut
as cleanly. And when I say cut as cleanly, I'm referring to this next pair of pruners and
that's a bypass pruner. Where the blade bypasses the cutting edge (like that) it makes a cleaner
cut, and the blades stay sharper longer. Also, if you'll notice about this pair of pruners it's
got a slight bend to it. When you hold your hand up to prune instead of doing this- you can hold
it more naturally and fatigue your wrist less, during the course of the pruning job. Okay
so, that's pruners. The other thing I'd like to mention before we get started is a little bit
about grapevine physiology and that has to do with the bud system. The buds are all important because
that's where the shoots grow and consequently bear fruit. So, a vine will continue to grow as you can
see, this one did over the course of last season, but it does not form a terminal bud. An apple
tree, peach tree, plum, or cherry whatever forms a terminal bud and ceases growth. The grapevine
will continue to grow as it- as you give it water and fertilizer. Then as cold weather sets in; if
the wood is not big enough or mature enough it simply dies and so it sluffs off and eats one of
these bud junctures, each one of those nodes. You can see where that wood is getting a little bit
stronger as we get into thicker wood. Until we get to about a number two pencil size in diameter
and at that point, we can cut it and leave this terminal bud to produce our growth for next year.
Okay so, ultimately in this system we want two trunks and a kicker cane, here we two-budded this
vine. In other words, this 2-year wood was cut right here, it had one bud left that we grew up
into this nice cane, that will become a trunk. So, 2-year wood has peeling bark, 1-year wood is slick
like this non-peeling bark and so that's what we did last year. We did it on both sides one here
and one here that formed these two trunks. The center one is that kicker cane again, that we
brought up through the trellis but this year we cut it back and it will leave two buds. That can
grow a cane and they can come up and produce a cane that can be a replacement for either one of
these trucks or cordons. Now, these two are the canes or trunks that we're after and they've done
really well during the 2019 growing season. So, what we want is to establish cordons and actually
put this vine in its box- in other words, the space we've allotted to it within our training
system. In this case, it's a vertically chute positioned fine with the cordon wire here and the
chutes will grow vertically. Okay so, we have the cordon in place which is this 1-year-old cane,
that will develop over time into a cordon. So, we need to know where to cut it. We do that by
looking at the diameter of the wood and where it fits in the box. So, halfway to its neighbor
is right about here and this is a good-looking bud for a couple of reasons: the wood has the
proper girth, it has good brown color, and the bud is also oriented upwards- good deal. So, we're
going to cut it right here, simple enough. On the other side, we'll repeat the process even though
it's somewhat complicated by the post but again, come halfway to its neighbor, the diameter of wood
is correct, the bud is oriented upward and we're going to cut it right here. What that allows
us some extra wood, pass the bud that can be susceptible to freezing, without freezing the bud.
Let's talk just a moment about the bud anatomy and physiology. Grapes are pretty smart (if you
will) in that each bud has three growing points high primary, a secondary, and a tertiary, and
they're all encapsulated in this bud structure. What you're looking at here, is a dormant bud with
a leaf scar beneath it. That's where the leaf was attached last season and right here was a lateral
and so that's a lateral that forms and grows in the current season. Typically, not kept nor is
it fruitful but this bud is dormant. Now it was formed last season and it will produce a cane on
which you'll have your fruit next year. Know this, if you get first growth and it gets frozen you
have a second chance because the secondary can then pop and it can grow, maybe not as fruitful as
the primary but you do have a second chance. So, within the bud diagram, we can see three
growing points. The primary is larger and it's going to be the one that you're
after because it will be the most fruitful, the secondary is smaller, and the tertiary
of course is smaller once again. Typically, the tertiary if it does grow only produces
vegetation and will not be fruitful, the primary will have the most fruit. So, there we have it.
We have a two-trunked cordon wire vertically chute position vine ready to go. And so, these
buds then will each produce a chute on which will have one or two clusters of fruit and this
will be its third year of growth or third leaf.
