Performance of Croatina under short-cane mechanical hedging: A successful case of adaptation

The hypothesis that short mechanical hedging can be successfully applied even on cultivars with low fruitfulness of basal buds was tested over four years (2000 to 2003) on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Croatina. Yield per vine increased from 23 to 49% on hedged vines as compared to short-cane hand-pruned vines; up to a 30% increase (equivalent to ∼60 nodes per vine) there was no detriment to grape quality, and labor demand was cut by 55 to 60%. Yield compensation in the hedged vines mostly occurred as reduced budbreak; weak or no compensation effects were seen for cluster weight and bud fruitfulness, respectively. A tendency for impaired quality was seen only at the highest node number per vine (∼75), while the linear relationship found between yield and node number per vine suggests that short-cane hand-pruning can also be feasible provided that at least 30 nodes per meter of row are retained. These findings indicate that mechanical pruning can be an excellent tool for converting traditionally long-cane pruned cultivars into short-cane pruned with related advantages in terms of more balanced growth and ripening and adaptability to full mechanization.