Which pruning method is easier to carry out and can often be mechanized?

• A. Spur pruning.
• B. Replacement cane pruning.
• C. Head training.
• D. Cord-on pruning.

Answer: (B)

Pruning systems differ in how easily labor can be applied and how well machinery can handle the job. Replacement cane pruning uses a long one-year-old cane kept along the trellis as the renewal cane. Each winter you remove the old wood in bulk and cut back the renewal cane to the desired fruiting buds. This bulk, straight-canopy approach lends itself to machine pruning because you can run equipment along the row to trim and remove canes efficiently, without needing the meticulous, bud-by-bud work required by other systems.

Spur pruning, by contrast, requires many tiny, precise cuts to two-bud spurs on the cordon and careful control of bud numbers, which is labor-intensive and difficult to automate. Head training focuses on shaping a low head and managing shoots rather than straightforward cane removal, and cordon pruning centers on maintaining a fixed horizontal growth with short spurs, which still demands careful manual work to maintain the correct structure.