With the arrival of spring, the vines awaken from their winter torpor, vigorously resuming their growth cycle, which had slowed down during the cold months.
To the untrained eye, it may seem that work in the vineyard is concentrated exclusively in the harvest period, but in reality it requires attention 365 days a year!
With spring, in fact, the whole vineyard apparatus starts working again, from root to plant, and so there are well-defined steps to deal with.
Starting with the soil, in order to keep it clean and ensure the right supply of water and nutrients to the plant, careful cleaning of the rows will have to be done, as weeds and weeds will also resume their vegetative cycle.
Next, we move on to plant care through what is known as green pruning, which consists of two distinct actions: suckering and checkering.
Suckering refers to the removal of shoots from the trunk or sterile shoots formed on old wood by dormant buds. Through checkering, on the other hand, shoots without clusters are removed, also to promote the microclimate and pest control, thus leaving only the shoots that will actually go on to produce fruit, thus avoiding the dispersion of nutrients in the plant and concentrating everything in the shoots that are chosen.
In addition, in the spring the vine branches accelerate growth, so the vine shoots are tied, securing them to the espalier structure. This work is done first of all to keep the plant tidy, but also to prevent the shoots from being broken by gusts of wind or the weight of the bunches of grapes.
Finally, not to be forgotten is the part devoted to treatments: in spring, prevention of diseases of fungal origin is carried out by spraying the vines with sulfur- and copper-based products.
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