Mark--
Do you think Muscadines could be pruned the same way your real vinifera grapes are? I really like your arrangement
Yes, but is it the best for that variety, or grape family? It's my understanding you could go from a 6' wide cordon for a vinifera to a 12' cordon with a muscadine due to their vigor. If I did muscadine, that's what I'd do - a very long cordon.
Correct me if I am wrong but this is what I see
- -- a thick grape trunk with two thick arms (branches) (cordons) with 6ft combined total length
- -- you have about 8 fruiting spurs on each branch (cordon) making about 16 total
- --after each grape harvest you prune back to the fruiting spur (looks like you did early spring from one of the photos)
- --each grape season you get new leaves and bunches of grapes
- --- you have two rows of wires running above the main grape branches (cordons) to support grape bunches and foliage>>>meaning that>>>>>
- --you are training your foliage into an upward growth each season to minimize chaos and make for easier grape picking-harvest
- -- I think you have to go up and down the rows each week to hang wayward foliage and grapes on the two wires running above. To make sure they are hanging and clinging OK
thanks
You are a quick learner. Basically yes to all of the above. I run a 12.5 ga. cordon wire about 36-42" above the ground. That is used to support a permanent T - trunk and cordon arms. After planting, when my very young trunk reaches that cordon wire I pinch it off just above the wire and take the most vigorous
upper most, top laterals, one on each side, and start training, tieing them down and along the cordon wire while removing all other shoots that are useless to me that occur along the trunk below that point. This insures all vine resources are directed into my future profile, the trunk and very young, brand new shoots that are my future cordon shoots/canes. Most folks just let their vines go wild the first year. You don't have to do that, you're wasting time to get to where you want to go. You can get a full term trunk and cordon the first year by pinching out the crap you don't want and tieing down what you do want. When the young shoots reach the end of their cordon run, the 3' run each side, I clip them to induce lateral branching which will become the future fruiting spurs of 1-4 buds each. There will be plenty of buds pushing that want to go south and sideways, remove them as they occur the first year and every year thereafter. It's really easy, but quite labor intensive, at least for the first couple of years.
Now....you can either be sloppy/lazy with your daily activities and have a mess, or, you can get your boots out into the vineyard and train your new shoots up between (2) 16 ga. catch wires about 14" above the cordon wire and another 12-18" above the first catch wires each year. Use a ratchet type fence tightener to wrench up and tighten the wires each spring. Loosen them to relieve tension during the winter.