A new French film explores how techniques for propagating and growing vines prescribed by the French government has been resulting in loss of biodiversity and longevity in viticulture. Furthermore, poor pruning practices are reducing the resilience of vines to climate change. Bad grafting technique causes weakness in vines and using limited types of rootstock contributes as well.
Well, with all of this controversy, which I can see is what happens with agriculture in general when the government prescribes unproven methods that must be adhered to when applying for grants, I'm really glad we are doing it our way.
It seems that the old-style whip and tongue graft is far superior to the omega graft propagated by Germans who developed an instrument that I bought for Alex when his grafts kept failing.
It also seems that the pruning of vines to very short stubs promotes the development of ESCA, a disease of the trunk that is causing vines to die. Training systems with long arms (or cordons) were generally less affected by the disease than those with short or no arms. Pruning also played a major role, with a trend of less severe symptoms associated with less pruning. Scientists who conducted a ten-year study concluded that simplification of the woody vine structure (resulting from the adoption of modern training and pruning options) may have favoured the development of ESCA.
Case in point, the more man interferes with nature, the more it suffers. LITFA. My new mantra. Care to guess what it stands for?
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