Final Pruning

We started with the final stage of pruning last week, called "Stompsnoei" in Afrikaans. The initial pruning phase is called "Skoonsnoei", and involves cutting away all unwanted shoots. Only the bearer shoots are then left.

Then, as close to budding as possible, the remaining shoots are pruned to their desired length. We aim for two eyes per shoot. This is the crucial pruning phase, as this determine the yield. We aim for 6 to 8 tonnes per hectare, so having more budding eyes puts this in jeopardy and just makes suckering harder.

I'm just a little worried about the weather. We are having unusually long spells of temperatures in the mid twenties and this could result in a early budding season. Not preferable seeing that we expect some rains to come late in the season again. We prune our vines back to two eyes. This is how things looks now