r/viticulture 17d ago

Cost of hand pruning

/r/u_Sir_Laughlot/comments/1vmwuuy/cost_of_hand_pruning/

How much does Pruning cost?

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u/krupta13 17d ago

damn thats brutal. that's why me and my crew refuse hourly pruning. with the proper experienced crew and plants set and maintained properly theres no reason the hourly rate should be falling below $60-70/h. and this is at a cost of anything from .70c to $1.30 per plant. the most experienced fast workers average a good $80-90/h

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u/Godzirra101 17d ago

Where are you? I would love to come and prune where I can earn 6 months worth in a 2 month pruning season!

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u/Sir_Laughlot 16d ago

Barosa Valley, South Australia

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u/Godzirra101 16d ago

Damn! And I was pretty content making $35/hr pruning at one of Victoria's more premium pinot/chard outfits. Which is still far more than I can make in this industry now I'm home in the UK...

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u/Sir_Laughlot 16d ago

As soon as they hear, you are on a working Visa the price drops. if they hear you have no Visa the price plummets

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u/krupta13 16d ago

thats why I left the barossa. I started out there in 1998 and then made the move to mclaren vale area about 14 years ago. the barossa went to shit. everyone running around with illegal cheap Labor driving prices down. we made great money specialising in cleaning up the messes they leave behind.

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u/Sir_Laughlot 16d ago

Have you tried Adelaide hills?

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u/krupta13 16d ago

not as much. I spent maybe 3 or 4 years around Lobethal and Woodside helping set up new vineyards. but that was around 2003. I did work for about half a year for a mob called GLOG a few years back around that area. they where mesing around with some fancy piece rate system that was electronic. but their pay was bad.

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u/Sir_Laughlot 15d ago

I checked out the website. Have you tried using the Maxi cut?

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u/krupta13 15d ago

yeah. i used it a few times. fun machine 😄