Studies on the sultana vine. III. Pruning experiments with constant number of buds per vine, number and length of cane varied inversely

Abstract

Pruning experiments are described in which the number of buds per vine was kept constant, and the number and length of canes was varied inversely. The position of the pruning cut affected per cent. bud burst at only the two terminal bud positions, and did not affect per cent. fruitful shoots a t any bud position. For any length of cane likely to be used in practice, per cent. bud burst in the most fruitful region would not be affected. For a constant pruning level there were no significant differences in yield when length of cane was varied from 11 to 18 buds, but in years of high fruitfulness yield was significantly depressed when the canes were 25 buds long. Apical dominance could also be demonstrated on vines with canes of variable length, and it was shown that the inhibiting agent did not move transversely.