Following my last post vine growth has gone crazy. Now is the spring rapid growth phase of a vine leading up to flowering and continues until berry growth kicks in a couple of weeks post berry set.

This has meant that the first of a number of foliage wire lifts has commenced in order that the shoots are placed in an upright position. This ensures that they do not break in windy conditions.  Vine always look neat after a wire lift.

Merlot vines following their first wire lift.

You can notice from this the position of the pair of foliage wires some 15 - 20cm above the cordon. This may be moved again before the second pair of wires are brought into play higher up the posts.

Here one notices the Viognier vines a little more advanced and having already had their second lift. Can you believe it these shoots are growing some 3 - 4cm per day. Yes, that is Pippa the “wonder dog” in the RH corner of the shot resting in the shade!!

There is always something to keep you on your toes. Yesterday we were confronted by a smoke event from a prescribed burning of nearby bush/forest.  The day was warm to hot (30C) with no breeze.  The burn off was to the south west and smoke haze drifted across for a good 4 - 6 hours before a sea breeze sprung up to start to dissipate the smoke.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Vineman Tips, Gherardi Vineyard, viticulture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.