BY DUKE ELSNER
Wine grapes require summer "canopy management" to maintain vine health and promote fruit development. Left on their own, vines will produce an excess of shoot growth, leaves and fruit clusters.
Reducing this excess starts in the winter when vines are pruned to bring them back into a desired shape and size. Once growth gets under way in the spring, there are typically still far more growing points in the vine than are actually needed. Right now, hundreds of vineyard workers are rushing to keep up with rapidly growing vines, accelerated by the recent high temperatures.
Leaving too many shoots to grow results in excessive numbers of fruit clusters for the vine to support and ripen -- which is very detrimental to fruit and wine quality. More shoots also mean more leaves; the canopy of the vines becomes dense, limiting light penetration and restricting air flow through the vine. These conditions favor fungal disease problems and slow fruit ripening.
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Dr. Duke Elsner is a viticulture and enology educator for Michigan State University's Extension Service.
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