To despamp or not to despamp? That is the question.

Hello everyone, on this occasion I wanted to venture into writing this post myself and, arming myself with courage, I am going to delve into the world of vineyards through the stunning.

Well, having said that, the first thing to do is explain briefly and clearly what is the stunning. Stunning, as here in the southern region of Córdoba, is called the thinning of the future shoots of the vine, it is a very important task, to say the least, whose purpose is to strip the vine of the clusters that it is expected not to need, thinning the future shoots and clusters, so that they take on their size better, ripen better, the phytosanitary treatments are better distributed throughout the interior of the foliage, the air circulates more easily through the clusters and, ultimately, that the grapes obtained are of the desired quality.

But is the flash always appropriate?

Many experienced farmers would say yes, without even hesitation, but I think it depends on certain factors, such as:

The type of terrain
The type of variety
The weather conditions
The conditions in which the plant is found

All of this ultimately has an impact on the vigor of the plant, since it will depend on the type of land (whether it is a land that is more suitable or less suitable for growing vines), the type of variety (there are varieties that are more vigorous than others), of the weather conditions (if it has been a good year of rain, without damage from frost, hail… as for example, this year 2013 for these payments from Montilla-Moriles) and finally the conditions in which the plant is found ( This is what I mean by taking care of the vineyard using the appropriate means for that type of vineyard, carrying out all its tasks and treatments against diseases).

I think that, depending on the vigor of the plant, it will be advisable to de-pump it or not, since the advantages that we said that pruning presents the Stunning, can become disadvantages if there is no vigor in the plant. I explain this with a clearer example, suppose that this year there has been little rain, the plants have not developed well because they have no where to get their food from, so the foliage is not very dense, so we clear and thin the shoots and clusters, We provide clarity, which throughout the summer will cause the incidence of the sun on the clusters and shoots to be much greater than without the glare, so the grapes will be damaged to a greater extent and, consequently, we will obtain less harvest.

To finish, I would say that pruning is the most important task that can be done to a vine, so that the clusters and shoots develop properly and being able to obtain a quality grape, but that it is not always advisable to pruning, since it will fundamentally depend on of the vigor of the strain.