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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

That kind of cane is a stress reaction to heat, herbicide, etc..  Multiple buds fuse and when they grow the flat shoot is actually two or three canes growing as one.  It's not stable.  Cut the tip off and any new shoots will be normal.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
Grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/

On Jun 8, 2010, at 7:49 PM, William C. Garthright wrote:


> The belt cane sounds like a sport maybe?


Maybe. I didn't think of that. I suppose I should have left it until the 
following year to see what kind of raspberries it would have given me.