A bit of defoliation

Flowering is over with, and the clusters now require more sun for the grape
skins to toughen sufficiently.

We remove one or two leaves from each shoot in the cluster zone, along with
the side shoots.
Mind you, we do this only on the side that catches the morning sunlight, so
the clusters gradually become accustomed to the sun without running the risk
of sunburn.

Right now we can see how close we came to having serious troubles with
frost; the first leaves often show damage from the late frost.

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Flowering, and care of the foliage canopy

Thanks to the lovely weather, flowering has moved along rather quickly and
the clusters have already begun to develop, shedding their flowerhoods.

The young shoots of the Blaufränkisch vines have already grown above the top
pair of wires and have to be trimmed, so that the wind cannot break them
off.

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Blossom time

Flowering is now in full swing, and we are glad of the warm and windy
weather, which propels the flowering onward and minimises instances of
fungal disease - powdery mildew or downy mildew.

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