Shoot Thinning

Question 1

What is the definition of Summer pruning?

Answer 1

Anything we do when we have at least some green tissues involved in that operation, so it can occur in early spring, in mid-summer or in late summer.

Question 2

When we discuss shoot thinning, what are some possible ratios that we can get and what is optimal?

Answer 2

Lets say we have 3 nodes in total:
1. If we have one shoot out of three nodes the pruning is too light (as we have too many nodes)
2. Lets say we have 6 shoots from three nodes, Pruning here is too intense as we don’t have enough nodes
3. If we get three shoots for three nodes the pruning is optimal and this is what we want

Question 3

In which scenario do we usually find ourselves? , when it comes to shoot thinning?

Answer 3

We usually find our selves in the situation where we have done too intensive pruning, leaving a bud number that is too low

Question 4

Answer 4

This is a very bad situation in which we have shoots growing from basal buds and to boot are fruitful, in this situation they will increase yield and spoil quality. I would remove them even though they have clusters

Question 5

Answer 5

Completely ideal situation. We have one shoot per node for optimum balance, but we also have a shoot growing from the basal bud that is purely vegetative and this will be great for spur renewal next year

Question 6

Which is the best in terms of shoot thinning?

Answer 6

The left is ideal, the right is on the boundary

Question 7

The problem is not just how the vine looks now, the problem is understanding….

Answer 7

what kind of growth compensation the plant will develop in the further months, because there will be a reaction considering that shoot thinning is a very early treatment.

Question 8

Describe the situation here

Answer 8

Here we can see chardonnay growing in trentino. It was spur pruned long with 1 count node. The important consideration here is that the first count bud is fruitful, but also the plant is not so vigorous to develop many secondary shoots. If it was this would be an issue

Question 9

The lowest shoot thinning resulted in….

Answer 9

the lowest leaf area

Question 10

Shoot thinking can be used also to improve the microclimate of the canopy as well as

Answer 10

also increasing the rate of ripening.

Question 11

What is NCER

Answer 11

For the canopy Net CO2 Exchange rate

Question 12

When we look at the graph showing a controlled vine vs a shoot thinned we are looking specifically at total leaf area and total leaf area per shoot, what do we see

Answer 12

We can see that total leaf area does not change, however total leaf area per shoot drastically changes. This confers our ideas about compensation as the the total leaf area/shoot in the shoot thinned vine was considerably more than that of the control

Question 13

What can be our first conclusion about doing shoot thinning and why, based on what we can see?

Answer 13

if I do shoot thinning, I’m doing something that favour fruit ripening, because sugars become higher, colour and phenolics as well, and acidity decreases

Question 14

Why is this the case, that we can favor fruit ripening?

Answer 14

Because we are increasing the leaf to fruit ratio due to the fact that sometime we remove shoots with clusters on them. This is sort of a cluster thinning that allows for more energy to be put into the retained clusters

Question 15

The recovery in leaf area can be explained by

Answer 15

Photosynthetic compensation

Question 16

Why does this photosynthetic compensation lead to an increase in quality?

Answer 16

Because the photosynthetic efficiency is the same, but with less yield