At 40 Knots, we listen to our customers. Our service goes beyond serving a glass of wine. We are proponents for traditional responsible farming, and nothing gets us more excited than chatting with a fellow farmer. Whether you own a backyard or many acres, we love to help. Farming is our passion. Caring for the environment and leaving it better than what we found it, is in our blood.
A few years ago, we started delivering free workshops to those in our community. With a Viticulturist and Aborist on staff, you are in great hands. I think we have a total of about 120 years of experience in our small Crew. Our workshop leaves you feeling confident. And we leave feeling great about our contribution to farming on Vancouver Island. We love hearing from those that attended about their great harvest and increase in yields and quality of fruit.
If you missed our annual workshop, here are a few Cole’s notes:
Fact: No fruit grows on old wood. If you want more fruit, you need to prune.
Fact: A vigorous grapevine can produce 150-200 feet of linear new growth a year.
Fact: Pruning is best when trees and vines are dormant. In Vancouver Island, it is usually after Christmas.
Fact: To prepare for dormancy ensure you supply food and water to protect
Safety Equipment: Buddy up if you are needing to use a ladder. Always wear gloves, eye protection, and proper footwear.
Tools: Use sharp tools and if you notice any disease, use peroxide to disinfect your tools before moving to another branch or vine. You can actually pass disease if you don’t do this.
Design: Choose a design, and don’t be scared. Especially with vines. In some countries, they are considered a weed and they are very resilient. You can find many designs on the internet. I would list them all here, but it is a blog after all.
Age: Young trees should be at least 3 years old before pruning.
Canopy: Consider that you will need sunlight and protection, and this is where canopy management comes in. You will be a good balance of vegetative growth to ripen the crop yet sufficient fruitful buds to provide adequate yield.
Suckers and Dead Wood: Always remove suckers and deadwood. If there is only one thing you do for your trees and vines, this is the one.
Meet Andy on Youtube as he explains apple tree pruning:
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