“I grow plants for many reasons: to please my eye, to please my soul, to challenge the elements or to challenge my patients, for novelty or for nostalgia, but mostly for the joy in seeing them grow.”

- David Hobson -

 

South Africa can relate to the above with its variable climate and different soil types. Growers put their heart and soul into producing top quality table grapes to compete on the world stage.

 

The preparation for harvest start as early as August when it is still high winter in South Africa. The first practice where the best and strongest shoots are selected and put on the trellis before pruning.

 

With spring approaching the next step of preparation is pruning where each vine is carefully pruned with the right amount of fruitful bud’s specific to every variety.

 

About 9 weeks prior to harvest flowering will commence, which is considered to be one of the most important physiological stages of the grape vine’s growth cycle. During this time cell division is very active and when flowering is finished, the bunch left behind will be the end product that needs to ripen for harvest.

 

The end result being that every bunch that gets packed for export are carefully groomed and prepared.

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