Trimming the Vines

I'm pleased to report the vines are healthy and doing very well after a week in the ground. I spent the day yesterday getting up close & personal with each one, by trimming them. If the vine had more than one cane, I selected the most promising and snipped the other. I then used my thumbnail to nick all but four or five buds out of the surviving cane. I could have only kept three buds or - more risky - just one, but didn't have the guts to do that yet. So once frost danger is past I'll have to go back and trim again, this time leaving a single new shoot from one of the buds, which I'll then train up the bamboo stake toward the first wire.
All of this trimming will promote more vigorous growth, focusing nutrients and energy into the single shoot which will represent this year's growth. Much like pruning rosebushes.
Very enjoyable work, being up there on the plateau with just the killdeers for company.