Page 47 - Grapevine May-June 2019

Around The Vineyard

Managing the Scott Henry Place the extra moveable foliage wire on top of the
shoots from the bottom cane, and they will lean
The Scott Henry is a cane pruned system, using out into the row, assisted by any wind. Shoots from
two or four canes. The Smart Dyson is spur pruned, the top cane will form the top canopy, and they are
with spurs pointing upwards and downwards from trained vertically upwards between foliage wires, as
a mid-height cordon. We will discuss the manage- is normal for VSP.
ment of the Scott Henry only here.
Then, at around early fruit set, move the bottom
Normally, for vigorous vines we prune to four moveable foliage wire downwards and attach it to
canes, two on a lower fruiting wire at around 40”, the post, say 2 ½ ft below the fruiting wire. This will
two on an upper fruiting wire at about 46”, on the form the second, downward pointing canopy.
opposite side of the post and on the upwind side. Remember that you will need to apply any herbi-
An extra wire is used for the SH, a moveable foli- cide before flowering.
age wire to help downwards shoot positioning. At
winter pruning, this rests about opposite the top Normally shoot positioning the Vertical Shoot
fruiting wire, and at early flowering it is placed on Positioned canopy (VSP) takes 3-4 labor passes
top of the shoots from the bottom canes after they through the vineyard with well managed teams,
are separated from those growing upwards; subse- and requires 12 to 16 hrs per acre. This figure
quently, after fruit set it is moved downwards and might be increased by say 25% maximum when
attached, so positioning the shoots downwards. using Scott Henry.
When pruning remember not to wrap the bottom
canes too tightly, one or two wraps is best, and Responses to Scott Henry
secure the ends of the canes. Training with Vinifera

At the beginning of flowering, and before the ten- The conversion cost is not high, to add only one
drils start to attach, slide your arm into the canopy wire per row to train shoots downwards, and a
to separate shoots from the top and bottom canes. very modest increase in labor input, for shoot

Diagram of Scott Henry training, showing fruiting and foliage wires. Left, appearance after winter pruning
to four canes; right, appearance before pruning, showing cane positions. Note the position of moveable
foliage wire, in the upper position on left, and after turning downwards, on right.
877-892-5332 The Grapevine • May - June 2019 Page 45

Grapevine Main Pages GV050619_Layout 1-1 .indd 45 4/16/19 12:57 PM