Pulling and Replanting

Paul,

I replaced my Aurore, DeChaunac and Baco Noir with Vignoles and Noiret. With the Baco & Aurore, I just cut them off at the ground and planted the replacements as close as I could get. With the Baco, I planted the replacements about 2' away and kept the whole Baco vine that year, then cut off the near canes the second year, and finally cut off the trunk the third year. Just to keep production up.

I could see no setback to the new vines in any case. They did just as well as any 1st year vines I've had here. YMMV.

I would hate to steer you wrong, but I have never heard this, experienced it, read it any literature, nor heard it related in any of the vineyard management classes i've attended over the years.

In my experiene, the bigger issues;

1. Removing previous vines. Vines develope very deep, strong root systems. After even a few years, getting the roots out is all but impossible. I pulles some self-rooted 3 year old Syrah a couple years beack. and we had to work terribly hard to get them out.
2. If the ivnes are 5 or more years old, might you consider grating rather than pulling and replacing? Given the years before you get significant production, this might be a more effective strategy. As I said above, I pulled and replanted some Syrah a couple years back. I replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon. I would like to move some more Syrah to CS next year - but am planning on grafting so that I don;t lose 3 years of production.

Good luck!