Our Solaris are not doing as well. There are very few grapes in the clusters. The vines are super vigorous this year. Could the vigor of the growth have stunted the development of the grapes?
Here's insight from a Spanish grape grower.
What causes poor grape cluster?
The "corrimiento" of the vine is defined as the accident that makes perfect fruit setting impossible, resulting in dismembered bunches with few berries, reducing the productive potential of the vineyard. Sometimes what occurs are alterations in fertilization, producing smaller berries that do not have grains, these may or may not fruit set.
The main causes of " corrimiento " are:
- Due to environmental factors: excessive rainfall, low sunshine, sudden changes in temperature.
- Due to excess vigor: In these cases the plant grows very quickly causing a deficit fruit setting, some rootstocks such as 140Ru and 1103-P accentuate this phenomenon.
- Lacks of some elements with iron, zinc and boron cause a bad curdling.
- Varietals: Some varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauignon and Garnacha have a tendency to this phenomenon
The solutions go through knowing the causes of the " corrimiento ", when they are due to an excess of vigor, it is due to:
- Limit the contributions of nitrogen fertilizers.
- Perform adecuated pruning
- Make trimmings, taking into account that they must be a little before flowering and that we must not overdo it since if it is too aggressive it can cause a harmful vegetative stop with cluster emissions that will produce a detriment in quality.
- The application of paclobutrazol, which is a growth regulator, limits the size of the shoots favoring good fruit set, it should be used two to three weeks before flowering and the amount to be used is very uneven, so it is advisable to be well advised .
So far the theory, now we go with empirical science, and for this I need to ask you some questions.
- 1st - What variety of grape is it and tell me if they are grafted on some vigorous rootstock like these (110 Ritcher, 140 Ruggeri, 1103 Paulsen), or if they are directly rooted vines
- 2nd- How are formed your vines , yor conduction system (Double cordon Royat, Double Guyot, etc …) , and know if you are doing short or long pruning (most likely you are doing an inappropriate pruning)
- 3rd- How old are the vines?
And then external factors would come, such as knowing if you have had bad weather conditions during the flowering and fruit setting period), and what type of fertilizer you make in your vines.
Most likely, you have a vigorous variety and are doing short pruning.
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