Crop Thinning for Crop Balance Equals Vine Balance After the tumultuous year of 2023, most growers are reporting that vines (for the most part) appear to be growing well, especially the hybrids. However, there are also reports of some vines growing poorly or have little crop with good vegetative growth, or in some cases-much more fruit than expected- to the level that the vines are not likely to ripen all of the clusters present. All of these observations illustrate different ways a vine responds and compensates after winter injury followed by a very wet growing season. Poor vine growth is symptomatic of carryover winter injury where trunk injury and/or root damage is finally showing up. Last year, many vines that normally would have collapsed from stress in season did not; the wet conditions and early harvest did not stress the vine, but reserves expected to be accumulated did not happen. Understanding natural vine biology can help us make sense of what we were seeing, especial