In May, all birds lay an egg and old vine branches also provide new buds. But they are sometimes so eager that the farmer's hand is required to intervene. By practising birth control, not all fruit-bearing buds get the chance to bear grapes after flowering. - TEXT EDITORS | IMAGE Ébourgeonnage © BIVB / Gérald MONAMY
Birth control
Actually, the ébourgeonnage in the vineyard an operation on the vine. This consists of removing the unwanted shoots: the greedy doubles and triples that are on the previous year's stems. The vintner sets a starting number of branches per plant and goes through the whole plot to remove the excess ones. This method makes it partially possible to regulate yields. The bunches of grapes that will soon be allowed to emerge will then get more sun and more nutrition. This action is often combined with l'épamprage. This is the removal of the offshoots lower down on the wooden vine, on the trunk and near the base.
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