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CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Whatever system of winter pruning is adopted with Sultanina, 

 careful summer pruning, suckering, sprouting, and topping are 

 necessary for the best results. This variety has a tendency to send 

 out large numbers of suckers from below ground and watersprouts 

 from the old wood. These shoots are usually sterile, grow vigor- 

 ously, and unless removed in time divert the energies of the vine 

 from the fruit and fruit shoots. Two or three times during the 

 spring the vineyard should be gone over carefully and all sterile 

 shoots which are not needed to balance the vine or to replace weak 

 or missing arms should be removed. This removal of shoots should 

 be done in such a way that no shoot longer than 12 inches is ever 

 removed. If the watersprouts are allowed to grow large their 

 removal weakens the vine. The shoots which are to give fruit canes 

 for the following year should not be topped. The shoots from the 

 horizontal fruit canes on the trellises, however, will set their fruit 

 better and are less likely to be broken by the wind if they are 

 pinched or topped early. 



SUMMER PRUNING AND SUCKERING 



Summer pruning or topping of bearing vines is usually prac- 

 ticed. Some follow the pinching process, by which the terminal of 

 the growing cane is nipped off with the thumb and finger when it 

 has grown out about two feet. Others wait longer and then slash 

 off the ends of the canes with a sickle. The tendency is to leave 

 summer pruning until too late and to slash off wood indiscrim- 

 inately, to the injury of the vine. Summer pruning, if done early 

 enough, and this would be while the growth is still soft at the point 

 of removal, will induce the growth of laterals and will shade and 

 improve the fruit, and at the same time thicken the growth of the 

 main cane and strengthen its connection with the spur. Slashing 

 of canes too late in the season deprives the fruit of the service of 

 enough leaf surface for the elaboration of the sap, often seriously 

 checks the growth of the vine, and in hot regions, induces sunburn. 

 The first summer pruning should be done soon after the bloom, but 

 not during blooming. The second could take place whenever the 

 canes or laterals extend beyond the length necessary to shade the 

 grapes. 



Suckering is an important process and usually has to be attended 



to at least twice in the season. It consists in removing all shoots 



from old wood which are not provided for at the previous winter 



pruning. The growth of these suckers takes sap which should go 



to the other canes. All such shoots should be rubbed or pulled off 



while they are still soft; if a sucker puts out at a point where it 



be desirable to have a spur to balance the head of the vine, 



t should of course be allowed to grow, to be cut back to two buds 



the following winter. By such selection of suckers new spurs are 



secured to replace old and failing ones. 



