Vintage 2022: May Vine Growth Spurt

It's almost the end of May and in the vineyard, the vines are growing! I blogged about budbreak on May 13 and now almost two weeks later, we are in the process of shoot removal!
Our vines are tall grafted vines where our trunk is the rootstock which is approximately 24 inches above the ground and our scion, or the variety (such as Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, etc) has been grafted at this height.^* This brings additional work that we must do which is to clear the graft union or what we called "the head region" from all undesirable growth. We do this while we are also shoot thinning in preparations for this year.

My husband has also begun the process of weed whacking the vine rows. We invested in an automated Fischer Twister but it hasn't shown up at the dealer yet so yesterday, he was back to using our electric line trimmer.
Here is a view of the Chardonnay that was weed whacked under the vines and shoot thinned. On either side of the row that has been weeded, are rows where the weeds are growing like weeds! When I took the photo, I especially liked the shadow of the vines. Yes, it was late in the afternoon.

^*Additional blogs on tall grafted vines:
1. German Publication on Stem Vines
2. May 2012 Update on Tall Grafts at Mercier
3. Fall Update on Tall Grafts at Mercier