This video shows how to renew a cordon on a mature grapevine. The video features Dr. Patty Skinkis, Professor and Viticulture Extension Specialist, Oregon State University, and was produced by Annie Chozinski and Makenzie Blaylock, both of OSU.
When to renew a cordon:
- Periodic removal will be necessary to maintain vine productivity long term.
- Remove cordons when yield declines or when dead areas form (poor spur locations and/or too few spur positions).
- Renewal requires pre-planning: Maintain a shoot at the head or sucker along the trunk during the growing season for replacing the cordon during winter pruning.
How to renew a cordon:
- Cut out the old cordon by working from the distal portions of the cordon and moving to the proximal area to the vine trunk. This will allow you to assess vine health (look for cankers as shown in the video).
- Be sure to select a new 1-year old cane from the trunk, making sure that arises above the graft union (to ensure that it is the scion cultivar and not the rootstock).
- Position the cane on the fruiting/training wire of the trellis, wrapping it no more than one rotation and affix.
- Unwrap the new cordon the following winter so that it does not grow around the wire over time.
- Continue to maintain a renewal supr at the top of the trunk (head of the vine) for future
