Shoot removal or bud-rubbing

Vine shoots are removed if they are:

• Badly-positioned and so will have to be removed at winter pruning anyway
• In contact or too close to the ground (Peronospora)
• Infertile (low-yielding plants)
• Rootstock shoots
• Causing too much canopy shade, particularly if growing in the centre of the plant, thus causing shade in the renewal zone for cane-pruned systems. Aim for 15 shoots/metre of trellis
• Supplementary to those left when winter pruning, and so affecting the fruit/leaf surface ratio.
• Laterals

This operation should be carried out after the risk of spring frosts, but before flowering. It should not be done too severely on young plants. This task is often done by hand (17 – 50 hours/ha) but shoots can be removed from the trunks by machines or herbicides (half-dose Paraquat)

Tucking in

The aim is to organise the canopy and facilitate mechanisation. It is important to tuck-in with upright canopies otherwise shoots will bunch together and flop on to the ground, preventing the passage of machinery. Tucking can be done by hand, using moveable wires, or with machines.
Itt is also important to tuck in for downward-growing canopies, as shoots will resist growing downwards and form irregular canopies.