IAC#1 2nd Fruiting

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+ Posted: 2nd Feb 2013, Final update 2nd June 2013 + 

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The first fruiting of my IAC#1 was harvested in stages from 8th to 16 Dec 2012.



 16th Dec 2012 - 31st Jan 2013  - Growing Period

I wonder if the short 45 days growing period is enough for the vine to prepare itself for the next fruiting. I am not so sure but I have got to try. Some say the minimum period required is 2-3 months, some say 3-4 months. Anyhow, I have decided to go for less than the minimum and I just hope I am not over stressing my vine. If the total number of fruit clusters is anything less than 25 then I will consider it as a failed project. I will put the blame on me - "I can be selfish. Yeah, so impatient. Sometimes I feel like Marilyn Monroe..." ~ Nicki Minaj.


(click on any image to zoom)

16th Dec 2012 - growing stage again (after the 1st crop). Notice there are many maroon color young leaves?  

I have laid out a proper plan for the second fruiting. They are:

a. To remove all tendrils, new leaves and new shoots 25 days before pruning. I call this pre-pruning pruning (PPP),
b. To apply flowering and fruiting inducers (fertilizers) 20 days and 10 days before pruning
c. To carry out long canes pruning method, and
d. To apply special fertilizers for the fruit setting and to increase the sweetness - 40 days and 80 days after pruning ~ although I know deep down in my heart I don't believe this. How can we change the natural taste of fruit? Can we? Sweet fruit is always sweet if it is genetically sweet. Sour is always sour. But some say that "special fertilizer" can do the trick. Hmmm...let's wait and see.

 7th - 31st Jan 2013  - PPP
Removing new shoots, tendrils and young leaves..

No more tendrils, no more young leaves, no more new shoots

 12th Jan 2013  -  1st fertilizer applied.

 22nd Jan 2013  - 2nd and 3rd fertilizers applied.

28th Jan 2013 - Notice there is no more maroon color young leaf? Meaning there's no new growth or at least
the growth rate is being controlled at a very minimum level. The vine is very healthy though, eager to grow
more but I manually prevented it from doing so. Photosynthesis is taking place every day producing
glucose and other carbohydrates but only to be stored.  I can imagine the vine is very saturated
with plant energy by now!

The purpose of the aggressive PPP is to halt the vigorous growing rate of the vine. Controlled growing rate prior to pruning means more plant food will be stored instead of being used as energy to grow and producing more new plant cells. Finger crossed, hopefully the reserved food will be transformed into more fruit - my two cents theory. Tell me if I am wrong.



 31st Jan 2013   - Pruning

I have to admit I didn't follow the formula in determining the number of buds to retain for fruiting (30-10-10). If you don't understand this, read the "Pruning Backyard Grapevines in the First Three Years" in my Grapevines Links or just click here. I didn't weigh the pruned parts of the vine but I estimated it to be around 10 to 15 kg (22 to 33 lbs). Based on that formula, I should retain not more than 50 buds. But I have retained more than 100 buds! Ahhh, Nicki Minaj, help me out!

1st Feb 2013 - Long canes pruning  (the day after pruning). Four canes were retained.

 TIP : Please notice that 4 long canes from the two future cordons (left and right) were retained. This method of pruning is called long canes pruning. The strategy I have adopted for the current fruiting is this: to have most of the fruit coming out from the 4 long canes. Any shoots growing from these 4 long canes that failed to produce a desirable flower buds cluster size will be removed. On the contrary, all shoots that grow from the two cordons will be left growing undisturbed - with or without flower buds. This will allow me to experiment with spur pruning method in the next fruiting.


The day after pruning and the vine still crying..

Grapevine sap

Can you see the upside down image of the canes? 

I can't figure this out. An eerie reflection of an alien's eye?

Grapevine sap

Grapevine sap

Grapevine sap about to drop. Can you guess the number of 'snaps' before I finally got this one?

 9th Feb 2013   - Bud Break Stage & New Shoots

I have noticed that buds close to the end of the four long canes break faster. As of today (9th Feb 2013), only 14 buds have 'broken' and out of that, 10 young shoots have emerged.

6th Feb 2013 - Early stage of bud break

9th Feb 2013 - Late stage of bud break

9th Feb 2013 - New shoot is born.
My dog, Bruang at the background candidly shaking her fur after her weekly bath.

 14th Feb - 5 Mar 2013   - Flowering Stage

What a perfect time to start flowering!! It's Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day 2013 - Pink flower buds

Valentine's Day 2013 - Pinkish and green flower buds

16th Feb 2013 - "Reaching The Sky" - my favorite macro-photograph, new shoot
with two flower bud clusters

20th Feb 2013 - a single flower bud cluster consists of roughly 500 potential flowers!

23th Feb 2013 - Flower buds clusters

Flower bud clusters count as of 17th Feb 2013 is  39 . Three days later, on the 20th Feb 2013, the total clusters increased to  46 . Final count on the 24th Feb 2013 is   56 .

I want to try something new. This time around I will focus more on fruit quality rather than quantity. So I have decided to retain only 24 clusters for fruiting. Clusters thinning will be carried out in the second week of Fruit Setting Stage.


Shoots Thinning

As I am planning to carry out spur pruning method for the next (3rd) fruiting for my IAC#1, and in order to maximize the plant energy for berries development, I have carried out shoots thinning - both from the two future cordons and from the four long canes. In the process, 11 tiny-to-medium flower clusters were removed leaving the total flower bud clusters to  45 .

24th Feb 2013 - All shoots without flower buds or tiny-to-medium flower buds clusters
were removed from the four long canes 

24th Feb 2013 - Removing water shoot from the cane

Shoots from the two cordons (to be trained as the permanent grapevines left and right arms) were spared from trimming. I will let them grow for the future spur pruning.

24th Feb 2013 - Shoots with or without flower buds that are growing from the left and right cordons
were spared from the pruner!

Flowers Blooming

2nd Mar 2013

 6th Mar - ?? 2013   - Fruit Setting Stage

10th Mar 2013

 11th Mar 2013   - Cluster Thinning

Now, it's the time I hate the most. As planned earlier, I have to 'force' myself to experiment the cluster thinning. I don't really need to do this, actually. The main reason it is being practiced by viticulturists in the west is to maintain the health of grapevines so it will live longer. How will it affect the vine's health? In the non-tropical region with 4 seasons, the growing period is shorter. The more fruit clusters retained into the veraison stage, the longer time the vine need to ripen them all, therefore vines will have less time to grow more vigor and to get themselves prepared ie. to get well hardened as they go into winter. If they don't get well hardened, they will be exposed to the cold winter without proper 'clothing' and died, eventually.

Another reason for cluster thinning is to improve the quality of the fruit in term of sweetness and berry size. This is quite simple to explain - berries get sweeter and slightly larger due to less competition for glucose.

I am in Malaysia, in the tropics, where sunshine is plentiful through out the year. We don't have winter here (damnnn!! I want to play ski!!!!) so there is no issue about worrying not getting hardened.

The only reason for this experiment is to prove whether or not cluster thinning can improve the fruit quality. I know I am not yet into the commercial business level in growing grape. I am just a backyard, amateur grape hobbyist. It is just a passion. But that is also the ultimate reason why I should continue with this experiment. It is a passion complimented by my eagerness to produce a masterpiece. Therefore, quantity is not a priority. So, here we go, where is my pruner?

11th Mar 2013 - Twenty two fruit clusters were removed! Arrrrgggghhhhhh!!!! sob, sob, sob...:(

 After the cluster thinning, the remaining total clusters now stands as  23  - one cluster per shoot.

My wife was shocked and angry when she first saw the plate full with young berries on the dining table, "What are you doing?! Are you getting out of your mind??". My son also rushed to the table to see the 'harvested' raw grape.
"Take a sit", I said. And I spent the next half an hour to explain the theory of my little experiment.
The moment I finished my lecture, my son stood up, walked to his room and said, "What a waste...".
Hmmm...


Getting Bigger

21st Mar 2013 - IAC Grape Cluster

24th Mar 2013 - Three healthy clusters

Beside cluster thinning, berry thinning was also carried out where 15-30 berries were remove from each cluster.

24th Mar 2013 - Seven IAC grape clusters

6th Apr 2013 - almost the end of fruit set stage

20th Apr 2013 - Veraison stage will starts soon..too many birds, too many bats

 11th May 2013   - Harvesting (half) and Making Grape Juice

11th May 2013 - End of veraison stage

11th May 2013 - Harvested grape

11th May 2013 - Cleaned berries

11th May 2013 - ...into the blender

11th May 2013 - add water and brrrrrrr....

11th May 2013 

11th May 2013 

11th May 2013 - Chilled, fresh grape juice next to the one of the remaining 10 bunches yet to be harvested

 22nd May 2013   - Final Harvesting of the 10 Bunches

I have to admit that the first harvest I did on the 11th May 2013 was a bit too early - the grape was not fully ripe then. 

22nd May 2013 - "Hendak ambil gambar muka, kena kuak buah anggur!".
Sorry, this joke is in Malay language. Use Google Translate if you want to know the meaning. Hehe..

 Observation and Conclusion

Clusters and grape berries were bigger than the previous fruiting which I believe due to a combination of few factors and steps that I have planned and implemented during the whole process, started from the growing stage to the fruit set stage and finally, ripening. They are:

1) PPP (pre-pruning-pruning)

2) Strategic application of fertilizers

3) Shoot thinning

4) Cluster thinning

5) Berry thinning 

6) "Summer pruning" - removal of tertiary branches/shoots, tendrils and leaves thinning

7) The grapevine is getting older and matured 

This is the last update of this posting. Please drop a comment or you may ask any question for me to clarify further.  

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