Hybrid Cordon Length

[justinb]

I have Marquette, Petite Pearl, and Itasca in their 3rd year. The cordons are starting to reach the neighboring vines, and are getting close to the center of the neighboring vines. At what point do I pinch off the leading end of the cordons?

 

[Rice_Guy]

When set up I placed vines at 8 feet, half of 8 is 4 therefore I’ve clipped back to four foot.
Wish I had planted at 10 ft or even more,

 

[justinb]

Ok.. Thanks. My vines are 10ft apart. As of now, my cordons are about 10 ft long. I will pinch them off today.

 

[wood1954]

When set up I placed vines at 8 feet, half of 8 is 4 therefore I’ve clipped back to four foot.
Wish I had planted at 10 ft or even more,

Me too, I think Marquette would be better at 10 as they are very vigorous too late now tho

 

[BigH]

At what point do I pinch off the leading end of the cordons?

Is this a single wire trellis, or double wire like GDC?

If they have reached the center of the next vine on a single wire, then it is time to pinch them off. Pinch half way between the vines, with some overlap, say about a foot. Remove that overlap during winter pruning. Pinching now will give you half the summer to grow laterals into future spurs.

I follow someone on facebook that doesn't think you should grow more than an arms length of cordon per season. Westover Viticulture. Not sure what their reasoning is. Bud viability and retaining thicker wood maybe. With this in mind, there might be merit to pinching before vines reach each other. You can always finish the cordon next year. I tried to renew some cordons this year and had a lot of dead buds. I attempted to renew the entire length.

H