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Thursday, March 23, 2017

Seven Stages of Shoot Growth

Awhile back, I was doing some digging around to try to answer the question Why Does a Grape Cane Shred Its Bark and came upon many words such as phellogen, phellem and phelloderm, that were not in my ordinary/limited lexicon. During that search, I came upon a really great diagram that merited another look.
Since I did the initial search in 2014, I forgot where I got this diagram from and it took a little directed search on the internet to find the source. Originally, the diagram came from J. C. Fournioux, but I found it in Biology of the Grapevine, on page 51.1
While we wait for budbreak to come to our neck of southeastern Connecticut, I thought I would revisit the shoot diagram. According to the authors, Mullins et al. shoot growth can be divided into 7 stages. The 7 stages are labeled and the parts of the shoot that forms during those stages are also annotated. I found the diagram to be very helpful to my understanding of shoot growth.

A rapidly growing shoot increases by 3-4 centimeters per day and produces a new leaf (or tendril) every 2 to 3 days. In looking back at some of the photos I took in 2016, grape shoots definitely do grow very quickly.
While my husband and I anxiously wait for budbreak, we're back in the vineyard, as another season begins.
Reference:
1. Michael G. Mullins, ‎Alain Bouquet, ‎Larry E. Williams, Biology of the Grapevine, 1992.

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