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30 WINES&VINES May 2016 GRAPEGROWING five to seven buds or 18 inches of cane laid down per season (see photo at left). Leaving shorter canes promotes more even bud break and results in fewer blank spots on the fruiting wire. When vines are cane pruned, this rule is often disre- garded because the cane is removed each year. Cordon renewal can be a daunting task in large vineyard blocks, requiring trained crews and multiple years for completion. This is why we often see short-cut fixes to blank spaces on cordons, such as the ugly but common bridging approach. These practices are more often used simply to sustain production when the block is destined for a replant in the coming years. The first few weeks after bud break is a good time to assess gaps in the canopy and their impact on yields. Nonproductive gaps of 6 to 12 inches per vine can lead to losses of a half- ton to 1 ton per acre in potential fruit loss. Summary Early season canopy assessment from bud break through bloom is a simple practice for helping growers understand the effectiveness of their pruning strategy and the skill of their crew. Counting shoots and comparing to the target number of count buds retained per vine will reveal if the current bud count strategy is effective at achieving desired vine yields while reducing the need for follow-up work, includ- ing shoot and fruit removal. Differences in fruitfulness of varieties and their propensity to push non-count shoots can also be recorded so that count bud numbers can be adjusted up or down in future seasons to fine tune the ex- pected canopy density. Without the follow-up, there is a chance that poor pruning practices will be repeated. If you believe as I do that the best way to learn is by doing, be sure to get the crew that pruned out to the site to participate in the assessment. If you are fortunate to have the same labor in your vineyard each year, you can expect to see improvements in vineyard management effi- ciency in future seasons. Fritz Westover is a viticulturist and owner of Westover Viti- culture, based in Houston, Texas. He specializes in vineyard consulting, research and education in the south and south- eastern United States. Westover is a contributor to Wines & Vines, and he maintains a practical grapegrowing blog and grower resources at vineyardadvising.com. Dominance of apical buds is shown on canes of a Vitis vinifera cultivar. Note the slower bud break of the lowest node positions to be retained after spur pruning. Stepwise development of a second-year vine (the trunk formed in the first year) pruned with five to seven nodes on each developing cordon.