2011!!

For Withoek Boerdery the new year arrived silently. Because of the smaller apricot harvest we had a very quiet start to the year. We actually had a bit of spare time to clean up the farm and do some very much needed vineyard work.

Our young vines needed to be trained. We removed the extra young shoots and only the strongest survive. This strong shoot was also cut at the cordon wire and the top three buds left. From those three buds we will choose later the season the two strongest for the the cordons of the vine. The rest is all removed to limit the competition. In the old days this process will only take place after a years growth but with correct irrigation and fertilization we get enough growth to train it very much sooner. This means also sooner harvest and thus more economical vineyard.

The apricots will soon go through the summer pruning. This is needed to initiate new growth and wood. Keeps your trees healthier and more consistant in production.

We also look into the possible grafting of some of our plum trees to another cultivar. This process involves the cut down of the trees to creat new shoots and the grafting on this new shoots. I have personally never done this and looking forward to the experience.

The grape harvest looks good and we just hope the weather plays in our favour. It can rain but must just clear up quickly so that we don't get a wet humid climate which will promote fungi growth.