Pruning vineyards is a necessary and labor-intensive job, but thanks to innovative solutions like mechanical pruners, the job can be done in a fraction of the time.
Commercial winemakers and vineyard owners can improve their knowledge of pruning methods during a workshop planned for March 19 at the Buchanan House Winery & Vineyard in Tipton, from 2-4 p.m.
The “Vineyard Pruning Workshop: Mechanical and Hand-Pruning Comparison” will showcase the differences between the two methods and how mechanical pruning reduces pruning time to about an eighth of what is required with hand-pruning.
“Vineyard pruning is a labor-intensive process that many growers are looking to do in a more efficient manner,” said Randall Vos, commercial fruit crop specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. “In the last few years, Buchanan House Winery has experimented with a skid loader mounted mechanical pruner that can efficiently do the bulk of the pruning with one operator.”
Through a SARE Partnership grant, in 2023, Vos and Buchanan House Winery set up plots to compare mechanical pruning to hand-pruning only and mechanical pruning with a hand follow-up.
“We recorded the labor it took to accomplish each pruning type in addition to yield, fruit quality and disease incidence,” said Vos. “At this field day we will look at the machine being used at Buchanan House Winery, compare the vines pruned the three different ways and review what we tracked in year one.”
At the end of the event, presenters will also go over some best practices for those looking for more pointers on hand-pruning.
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Photo Credit: istock-jhvephoto
Categories: Iowa, Business, Crops