I know….a few weeks ago I was all excited about new buds on the grapevines…..and now I’m going to debud a lot of them….what is going on?

Well, grapevines are like unruly people in the spring and summer….they try and do anything they want. They put out buds on the trunks and in many cases put out double buds. As I have talked many times, you need balance in your vines. So, you have to remove all the buds from the trunks and also remove the secondary bud (the small twin bud).

Removing buds from the trunks is easy. Just get a thick glove and rub your hand down the trunk. It only took me about 5 hours to do the entire vineyard. The twins are a much more difficult as you have to make a judgement on each one. I just started this, but I’m guessing it will take me 15-20 hours. It is crucial to do all of these early since the vine is putting a lot of effort in growing these unwanted shoots.

Below I have some before and after pictures.

Joey’s doing her vines

Removing twins – before Removing twins – after