2013 Annual Report for FNC12-854
Economic Comparison of Mechanical and Hand Pruning of Northern Cold Climate Grape Hybrids in Small Wisconsin Vineyards
Summary
WORK ACTIVITIES
Progress Report Year: April 2013 to April 2014
Because of the snowy winters we have had the last couple of years we decided the best time to mechanical Pre-Pune would be in the fall. We waited until the plants were completely dormant and the ground was frozen so we did not leave tracks or cause compaction in the vineyard. This was in the first week of December. We then Pre-Pruned the whole vineyard. In the spring (March and April) we finished pruning by hand. We used two power hand pruners to compare style and cost. We used a power brush to sweep the vines in the row to between the rows. We then used a shredder to cut the vines up. We left these shredded vines in the vineyards.
RESULTS
It takes a good sized tractor to run this machine; the biggest problem being the weight of the machine. The unit we are using was designed to front or side mount. We ended up mounting it on the 3 point because of the weight.
Because of our hilly terrain, when it snows it is not possible to use this unit. We think the best time to use this unit will be in the late fall after dormancy and before snow. We are afraid that in the spring it will be too muddy to use this unit.
On moderate to steep slopes mechanical pruning is difficult if not impossible when wet or when there is snow on the ground. The best time to mechanical trim is when the ground is frozen and there is no snow cover.
Another issue is that when mechanical pruning we are cutting the vines into small pieces and the way we removed them from the vineyard previously will not work. In the past we would use a modified landscape rake on the 3-point of the tractor and drag the long trimmings out of the vineyard and pile them up to burn. We hand raked any vine trimmings that were under the vines in the row to get them out.
After mechanical pruning we have decide to use a hydraulic driven broom mounted on the front of a tractor to sweep the vine trimmings into the space between the rows. We purchased a 3-point shredder that we can use to grind the vines to small pieces and leave in the vineyard. This requires some investment in equipment but requires less labor. Some people question if leaving these pieces in the vineyard will promote disease. Only time will show if we have disease issues from this practice.
We are finding about a 40% saving in pruning labor with the mechanical Pre-Pruning. We will have actual figures in the final report due December 31, 2014.
WORK PLAN FOR 2014
We hired a college student who has taken grape production classes. He will be employed from May 10 until December. He will develop forms to collect the data on the quality and yield of the grapes. He will be in charge of collecting this data.
Data will be collected from bud break until harvest is finished. So data for this project will be collected in fall 2014.
OUTREACH
We demonstrated the Pre-Pruner at the Wisconsin Grape Growers Spring vineyard school. It was held at Vines & Rushes Winery located at Ripon, WI which is on the eastern side of Wisconsin. Please see the attached information sheet. About 40 people were in attendance to watch the machine work. A video was taken by Mike White from Iowa State Extension. You can see this video on YouTube by searching: Pre Pruner Grapes Wisconsin.
We developed a PowerPoint Presentation that shows different equipment to use in a vineyard. We will continue to develop this PowerPoint and use it at the Minnesota Grape Growers and Wisconsin Grape Growers Shows.
We are taking more video of machines in the vineyard this spring and summer including, Pre-Pruner, Row Brush, Vine Shredder, Air Blast Tower Sprayer, Vine Trimmer, Leaf Puller, and Netting. We have access to all the above equipment. The only major hand labor will be final hand pruning and picking.
Our Final report is due December 31, 2014. We will include the copies of the PowerPoint and video with the final report.