May 27th 2024
With late may showing the start to the growing year proper we started to thin the heads out in order to reduce the overall canopy size in order to allow for better airflow and spacing around the canopy later in the year. By doing this we are able to select the growth we want for the following year to tie down to the fruiting wires. However, there is always more crown thinning to be done later in the year as it is hard to predict the direction some shoots will take. We try to remove shoots that will end up growing outwards into the rows because we can't tie those down easily and they often get torn off or damaged by tractors or by manual work being done throughout the year.
June 7th 2024
The Canopy did as it normally does and rushed to grow as tall as it can in very little time, we are attempting to allow the canopy to be taller than previous years in order to optimise the leaf to fruit ratio and increase the overall crop health, this will mean we will be doing the topping of the vines later in the month and preferably waiting until next month in order to get the crop as tall as possible and keep it as tall as we can without it leaning into the rows or snapping off in a breeze.
June 16th 2024
The canopy grew steadily throughout June and did very well in the between the 23rd and the 1st of July, this was due to the strong week of sun we had during the last week or so of June. The flowering also started around this time which is around the same time as last year but in the Bacchus it was slightly later than last year, whilst this is unlikely to affect the crop we like to keep notes on the key dates of the vines year to year, it can be helpful to see how things vary year to year.
July 2nd 2024
The canopy has gotten quite big and we have been clipping the foliage wires together in order to hold the canopy within the wires and keep the stems apart to allow for better airflow and spray penetration, as the picture above shows the canopy has become much larger in not a great deal of time. The canopy requires constant management and attention from around mid June onwards. We will keep you updated on the goings on in the vineyard throughout the year up until and after harvest.
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