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| Wes Hagen, pruning |
The Goddess of Wine and JD headed for the wilds of Lompoc recently, ostensibly to pick up wine at
Clos Pepe, but also to spend a bit of time in the vineyard with that Renaissance man, Wes Hagen and his trusty assistant, Andrew Turner. It was a beautiful day, sunny and breezy, and Wes and Andrew walked us through winter vineyard management and a demonstration of how to prune a grapevine, during which we learned a new word:
phloem. In vascular plants like grapevines, phloem is the living tissue that carries organic nutrients, especially, sucrose, to all parts of the plant where needed. So when you prune a vine, you are looking for the center of the cane to be green and alive; this is the phloem, which ensures that the vine continues to live through the winter.
