This week we hedged the west half of the vineyard. Since the Pommard clone is more vigorous, we did these on May 28th and I expect we will do the 667 clone on the east end in a few weeks.
I get asked all the time…why hedge.
– to make the vines look pretty?
– to give my arms a workout as I cut them 6″6″ in the air?
– to balance the amount of leaves to fruit on the vine to produce great wine?
All of the above!
Last year I had a few vines reach the top of the “highway stakes” that are 6 feet tall. Now…..some are already 7 feet tall and it is only May 28th! Ideally you want the shoots to have 14 nodes places where the leaves are connected) so that enough photosynthesis will occur to ripen the grape clusters. If you have to many…..the wine will taste herbaceous…..to few and the wine will not ripen.
My goal in planting the vineyard with 5 foot rows and vines 40 inches apart with root stock 101-14 (designed for small growth) was to grow plants that would be smallish and have intensely flavored grapes. Looks like early on the ground is very fertile. What to do???? I may have to hedge the top of the vines to keep the growth in control as I have another 6-8 weeks of the growing season.