Early Shoot and Leaf Growth

Continuing on from the my earlier posts about the vineyard cycle, I would like to delve into the second phase that we would encounter in the vineyard. I covered Budburst earlier this year, and for a refresher you can read more about it here.

After the buds have burst and the new growth is slowly starting to develop and push out the new shoots and leafs, we enter the period where the majority of the vine's energy is used to grow strong, healthy shoots and leaves. These will be essential to form, carry and protect the flowers that will later develop into berries, which will eventually be used to produce another glass of your favourite wine.

If the fragile buds were lucky enough to survive through the cold spells in spring and form the new growth of the vine, the new shoots and leaves will grow rapidly as temperatures begin to warm. To support the new growth the vine mainly uses the carbohydrate reserves that were stored over winter. As soon as the leaves are mature enough, the energy for growth will be gained from photosynthesis.

An important vineyard task during this time is to trim the vines of unnecessary growth (shoots and leaves) to prevent the vine from using too much energy and producing more, but lesser quality fruit later in the season.

Unfortunately, there is still a risk of frost, which could again damage the fragile shoots and leaves, or return the shoots to a dormant stage.

I hope that you have found this to be informative and interesting, short and succinct.

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