On some vines it was possible to remove the surplus buds/shoots with the New Zealand bud brush, but not easy with the rabbit guards on, so I had to resort to my hand in good glove! A little backbreaking too.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Budrubbing & Shoot Removal
All pruning finished and the vines started shooting with new buds in March. Only two buds per vine were allowed to grow and then the strongest was selected and any others removed.
On some vines it was possible to remove the surplus buds/shoots with the New Zealand bud brush, but not easy with the rabbit guards on, so I had to resort to my hand in good glove! A little backbreaking too.
On the vines that had been pruned to the fruiting wires, I removed all but the two highest shoots (at the wire). As these grow they will be loosely taped to the fruiting wires and will provide the buds/shoots in 2012.
On some vines it was possible to remove the surplus buds/shoots with the New Zealand bud brush, but not easy with the rabbit guards on, so I had to resort to my hand in good glove! A little backbreaking too.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Pruning and Snow!
Started pruning the vines in December 2010. If the vine has not reached the fruiting wire I prune the vine back down to just two buds. This may seem drastic but the vine has established its root system in the first year. Those that have grown beyond the fruiting wire I cut back to the fruiting wire - if these have no green showing in the stem (which should be pencil thickness) then I cut back to just two buds as before. Most vines are being cut back this far. Then it snowed...
The photos were taken on Boxing Day.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Trellis cont.
Trellising continues with the end-post diagonal supports, the first wires and the intermediate posts. We are using 8" wooden end-posts for aesthetic reasons and green powder-coated galvanised steel intermediate posts for durability.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Trellissing
In the last week of September we have started installing the trellissing. We will be using the Scott Henry system which divides the canopy with half the shoots trained upwards and the other half trained to grow downwards. This allows greater fruit exposure for ripening and a less dense canopy reduces the risk of disease.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Canes & Rabbit Guards
We hired a mulch laying machine and laid about 8km of weed fabric over the vines. We then had to cut a hole in the fabric over each vine and then fit a bamboo cane and rabbit guard - backbreaking work for 5500 vines!
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