Since the devastating frosts we had last month, all our attention has been focussed on whether or not the secondary buds would push and if they would be fruitful.
I talked about secondary buds in a recent post but thought these pictures would help understand a little better.
Basically, each ‘bud’ or ‘eye’ as we sometimes call it, contains three buds or growing points. The primary bud is the one that pushes when the vines break out of dormancy and the secondary bud (and the tertiary) only push if the primary bud is damaged.
Buds actually form the year before. The primary bud develops first and so is the strongest of the three before vines go into dormancy for the winter.
Secondary buds are less developed, smaller and therefore less fruitful. They have fewer clusters of grapes and are smaller but provide a lifeline when the primary buds have been killed by frost as they will provide some fruit (albeit less than the growers would like). Tertiary buds usually have no flower clusters and so therefore no fruit.
If the primary bud remains healthy and undamaged then the secondary and tertiary buds remain dormant.
Have a look at the photos. You can clearly see the dead (brown) primary bud that has been killed and the secondary bud that has pushed to replace it.
In most cases it’s the apical bud that has been killed. The bud furthest away from the main part of the vine.
It’s still a little early to see if these shoots will bear fruit but the picture on the top right shows fruit in the making!
Losses are pretty substantial I think.
