The 2009 ASHS Annual Conference

In 2005, excessive vine size (~ 2.7 kg/vine) was produced on each of four clones of ‘Cabernet Franc’ (CF) grapevines planted at 1100 vines/ha in 2002 on a fertile clay loam soil in a commercial vineyard in Southern Illinois. Therefore canopy division was investigated as a means of controlling the excessive vine vigor. The main plot treatments consisted of vertical shoot positioning (VSP) and the Smart-Dyson ballerina canopy training system. The four clones CF 1, CF 4, CF 8 and CF 214 were the subplots. The canopy division treatments were imposed for three years (2006 – 2008). Shoot density was maintained by thinning to less than 20 shoots per m linear canopy. There were no interactions between training system and clone for yield/ha, crop size or vine size. The ballerina training system produced 11.5 mt/ha annual yield compared to 5.7 mt/ha on the VSP control vines averaged over the three years. Fruit composition was not affected by training system treatment. Although both training systems produced an average vine size of 2.3 kg per vine, the ballerina system produced an average annual vine size of 0.3 kg/m canopy compared to 0.9 kg/m on the VSP. The ballerina training system produced $8000 more farm gate revenue per ha than the VSP. The CF clone had minimal impact on yield and fruit composition over the course of the experiment.