On Tue, 8 Apr 2003, Nick Maclaren wrote:

The trouble is that you can't tell leaf buds (which I want) from
shoot ones (which I don't) at this stage.

?? On a vine they're one and the same thing.

That's the point. As they develop, some will produce a leaf or two
and stop, and others will produce long shoots with leaves all along
them. Lacking prescience, I can't tell which buds will do which,
and there are places I want the former but not the latter.

How strange! I haven't come across that on vineyard vines. What
particular variety of vine do you have?

But I suppose you can wait until it's more apparent which is which and
then just remove the ones you don't want. It won't cause bleeding when
they're that young. In spite of what Gillian Pearkes writes in her book,
current year's shoots don't become mature enough to cause bleeding when
removed until well on into the autumn.

At least that's true on *my* vines. I suppose Murphy might dictate that
things are otherwise on yours! ;-)

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