The 'high-wire' act of trellising for new shoots.
Mid June the guys put up two sets of wires above the fast-growing new vines, to help guide the young shoots up into a secured, vertical position. Each pair of wires helps to support the new shoots as they grow toward the sun and reach up to almost six feet above the ground. Why do we support these shoots growing now at almost one inch every 24 hours? There are several reasons.
Each of the new shoots supports one or two Cabernet flower clusters and we
A flower cluster that will become the trellised grape cluster.
need to protect our fruit! Without support in the upward position, the shoots would collapse to the ground (their natural wild, vine-like growing state), and we would lose the fruit and break many of the tender, green shoots.
New shoots in upright position in Kerry's Vineyard
The plane of double wires also helps to hold the green plant and leaves into position to prevent wind damage and tends to open up the canopy so that sunlight can reach all the leaves and air can circulate easily through the maze of green matter to prevent mildew. After the vine is fully mature and the growth slows down in the fall just before harvest, the trellis wires assume the role of supporting steel beams, supporting the walls of a green, vine multi-story building.
End of the row showing trellising wires.
Now our wall of fruit clusters are fully supported, easily found by the picking crew and easily harvested in late September or early October. It reminds me of a sea of luminescent forest green waves, flooding over a brownish-gray organic plain.
It’s a cool sight and thanks to the trellis wires, we can have lift, separate, and pluck.