Gentle Pruning

At Lokkelebery, there is no rest over winter. While the arable farm is filled with maintenance and nature projects during this time, the vineyard is beginning its annual lifecycle. In January we began pruning, a task which sets the course of a vines life, not only for that season but for many to come. At Lokkelebery, we follow a practice called Gentle Pruning, which involves observing and protecting the ‘sap flow’ within a vine.

Sap is the life blood of a vine, and so it is imperative that it can access all parts of the vine in a way that is uninhibited. The way we prune a vine can negatively impact this flow if done incorrectly accordingly to Gentle Pruning. When we prune a plant, the cut causes a wound. The plant will naturally retract away from this wound as a method of self defense, leaving a piece of die-back. If we prune the vines too close to a living bud or to the trunk of the vine, the die back may withdraw to these vital areas, causing a desiccation cone. The impact of this cone can be significant. It works in the same way as a blockage of a pipe; the desiccation cone creates a blockage, meaning that the sap cannot flow as easily. If the desiccation cones enter the trunk, it can also introduce infection. To avoid this, we ensure that each cut leaves enough room for dieback. As a result, the vine is left with little stumps rather than the smooth typical finish of a pruned vine. Although this may appear ‘messy’, we are focused on vine health not appearance. Later in the vines life, these dieback stumps can be trimmed if necessary as they no longer contain sap and therefore will not die back.

This year, not every vine will be pruned in the same way. The majority of the vineyard is ready for fruit pruning, meaning that it will have a trunk to lay down at tying down. This is a year earlier than expected, showing the great progress of the vines. The rest, however, is taking a little more time and so will either be cut to 2 buds (as in the first year), or will be cut just below the fruiting wire. These will be pruned as mature vines when they are ready.

Tying Down

Our next task is tying down. This takes place once the sap flow has initiated in the vine, usually in early spring when warmer weather arrives. Tying down involves the creation of a fruiting cane for the development of fruit and the vines canopy. At Lokkelebery, we are growing in a single-guyot system, meaning that there will be one fruiting cane on one side each year, rather than on both sides.

Tying down follows the same through process as gentle pruning. The goal is to keep sap flowing to both sides of the vine. This year, of the vines strong enough to be tied down, we tied the vines uphill. This involves carefully bending the vine to 90 degrees where it meets the fruiting wire, then wrapping the remaining cane around the fruiting wire. This will be where all of our canopy sprouts from, as well as where the majority of the fruit will hang from: the fruiting cane.

In the spirit of uninhibited sap flow, the vines will be tied downhill next year. To reference the pipe analogy once more, by keeping both sides of the vine flowing, we are keeping the cells alive on all fronts. If they are allowed to dry out, they will die off, leaving us with reduced resilience across the vineyard.

Tying On

A task unique to the early years is tying on. Between pruning and tying down, we tied each vine (which had a trunk), with 2 rubber bands to the metal rods; one at the base and one inside the top of the tube. The idea is to train the trunk to the rod thereby keeping it straight. During this task, we also manipulated the vines so that they stood on the west side of the trellising. This is so that the vines would not grow out onto the east side where they would protrude outside of the trellising rows. Such details can be seen a superfluous, but when the opportunity arises to achieve perfection, and by doing so achieve health and efficiency in the vines, it must be taken.