What’s going on in the vineyards you ask?  The answer this week is “Shoot Positioning”.  If you read our last blog post, you know that the season got started early with an early bud-break.  This means that the vines pushed their buds and shoots started growing.  These shoots are now growing in all directions.  So, to make a manageable canopy that fits our growth needs, we need to position the shoots where we want them.

Our goal in shoot positioning is to provide a wall of canopy that shades the fruiting zone during the hottest part of the day as well as providing ample leaf surface area for photosynthesizing leaves.  Shoot positioning also opens up the fruiting zone for future vineyard management such as leaf pulling and cluster thinning, making these tasks easier.

Shoot positioning is done in a few different ways; mainly dependent on what type of trellis system is used in the vineyard.  We commonly use a Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) trellis or a Quad/Lyre trellis system.  In a VSP system, wires are pulled up from the bottom of the vine and clipped onto a trellis stake or short cross-arm.  This gives the vine a tall wall of canopy with one fruiting zone underneath.   In a Lyre system, there are two fruiting zones for one vine and wires are pulled or raked from the center trellis stake to the outside of the cross-arm.  This system provides two walls of foliage with a lower fruiting zone under each.

VSP Shoot Positioning system

Quad/Lyre Trellis System

VSP Vineyard with wires lifted on left and not lifted on the right.

Next time, we will look at leaf removal.

Get Muddy! -D.O.