Pruning a grape vine - where does is come from and why do we need to prune a grape vine?
Pruning grapes date as far back as 1876, when French viticulturists trimmed their grape vines to keep them in shape, as they grew older. They learned that without pruning, their grape vines grow out of hand and produce smaller crops, with lower grape quality as years go by.
They developed a pruning method, where only a few old canes are removed during winter to keep the basic structure of the vine under control. The method or style of pruning a grape vine changed quite a bit since then, but the basics of keeping the structure of the vine as small as possible, remains until today. However, the most important thing they discovered, is that a grape vine will produce the best crops if it is pruned, EVERY YEAR.
Why? Without pruning a grape vine, the structure of the vine will get bigger and bigger every year, pushing the most active growth to the very end of the vine. Have you seen a grape vine climbing up trees?
An “out of control” grape vine produce lots and lots of flower cluster, but seldom produce good quality grapes to wine or table grapes and in the end, no grapes at all.
What most new grape growers don’t know, is that a grape vine produce grapes from buds that was laid down the previous year – in other words, the buds on a green shoots during this year’s growing season, will be the fruit bearers for the next season!
Although there are many reasons for pruning, the 4 most important one’s are the following:
1. To develop the young grape vines:
I cannot stress this enough! The key to having a productive grape vine one day, starts with the training and pruning of the young vine. If you grow grapes commercially like I do, you need to get that young grape vine in production as quick as possible and the only way this can be achieved, is knowing how to prune and train that young vine.
This is really the starting point of having a successful, productive vineyard – no matter if you grow one grape vine or a thousand, it is essential that you prune and train the young vine the correct way.
2. To maintain a proper balance between growth and fruit bearing:
Incorrect pruning or even no pruning at all, will result in thousands of buts to open in spring. At first, this will look quite lovely, but eventually, these new shoots will be under-developed and will for sure produce less quantity and quality grapes.
What not many grape growers know, is that when a bud open in spring and reveals a new shoot, this shoot grows from food stored in the vine the vine during winter and not from nutrients in the soil. Only when the shoots are about 2 to 5 inches, the roots of the grape vine become 100% active. Obviously, the more shoots there are, the less food there is for each shoot to develop during the early stages of shoot development – which by the way is the most important stage.
So you haven’t pruned the vine, and it still produced good shoot length, despite the fact there are thousands of new shoots on the vine. The next critical stage in the development of a grape vine is flowering and fruit set. During flowering, the grape vine is under a tremendous amount of stress, as the grape vine needs more and more nutrients to maintain the proper physiological activities within the vine. Once again, it is quite obvious that the more flowers there are, the less nutrients per flower there is – the result; the grape vine will naturally aborts the flowers to save itself and in the end produce strangely grape clusters with low quality grapes.
3. To maintain a proper crop size:
Over-cropping is probably the biggest mistake new grape growers make, as they try to grow as many grapes per grape vine possible. Over-cropping will not only delay the ripening process by a week or two, but will also influence grape quality.
The more grapes there are on a single grape vine, the more nutrients and basic elements like potassium is needed to maintain a proper balance between fruit development, fruit ripening and keeping the physiological processes intact - this is also the reason why having too many grapes per grape vine, will result in poor colouring of the grapes.
In the end, to produce insane crop sizes, you need to find the point where your grape vine produce optimum number of grape clusters, without negatively influencing the quality of the grapes.
4. To maintain a proper grape vine structure:
The last, but for sure not the least reason why we prune our grape vines, is to develop and maintain the structure of the grape vine.
Most grape vines nowadays are grown on some sort of supporting object. Whether it is a pergola, wired fence or trellis system, the maintenance of the structure of the grape vine in this supporting object is very, very important.
Keeping any grape vine in shape is impossible without proper pruning during the dormant season. There is also something known as “summer pruning”, which I will explain how to do in a later article.
Keeping the cordon (arms) of the grape vine in shape, will not only allow sunlight to penetrate the vine, which on the other hand is needed for disease control and fruit ripening, but will also make future pruning, a breeze.
I hope you catch my drift with this article, as without pruning, or let me say, proper pruning, you will most likely fail to have great quantity and quality grapes.
Learn how to prune and train your grape vine from the comfort of your own home!
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Tags: how to grow grapes in florida, grape vine training systems, how to grow valiant grapes, grapes you can grow in ontario, how to make grapes grow better
Here in west texas we are just days from bud break. i, like every one else has powerdy mildew and black mold. Will it benifit the cordens and renewal shoots to spray them now before bud break width a fungiside or some other type of treatment?
Would i treat my new growth as usual?
Thank you,
JERRY J RENO
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Thank you very much for the lesson. Here in Bangladesh right type of pruning at right time is only the way to success. I am following your tips and next December you will find me a sweet grape grower.
Yesterday we observed the National Independance Day.
Regards
Mohammed
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Thanks Dani, The tips are worth looking at even though I’ve bought your Complete Grape Growing System. It helps as a reminder of what we are trying to achieve.Brgds, Keith
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Very well spoken , thank you my dear friend Danie . I’m an experimenter person who love to study about “Why”. So i did those and i would like to share sometimes for you . Early pruning encourage the vine into growth and early maturing while with nourishing. Cane growth is like a water pipe line under pressure. Pruning makes balance pressure of water distribution . Fruiting stage can comes early regardless of cane size . Fruiting cane develops on the third to fourth growth development and onwards but rather be trim down yearly than that advice every three year.
I’m very thankful with my harvest . most of my berries where very large mark on 22-23 mm and ranges a kilo to 1 1/2 per bunch. and i’m proud because some of your tips helps me a lot this year. I’m looking forward to find thompson variety here in the philippines.
I’m growing Baumberries too this days. And starting to make some research about it . Take good care my friend. I hope you won’t miss a thing for me regarding grapes .
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I have 2 rows of vines, 5 on a row. I built a trellis system and let them grow over it towards each other so I could walk under the trellis and have the clusters hanging down. i saw this in an old Egiptian drawing. It was great the first year. the second year I pruned them back overhear to where they met in the middle and the outside where they were just hanging out. it was a disaster. Black rot. I got some grapes but not many. the next year i pruned one side back more but pruned one side the same. The less pruned side put out a lot more grapes the the more pruned side but i still had the disease,clusters of raisin like rocks. I decided i am not usuing chemicals and that the grapes were not getting enough sunlight so this year I pruned both sides back to to layers of vines. A lower layer of 2 vines at about 3 feet high, one 4-5 feet to the left the other to the right and the same on a top layer at about 6 feet high. I have read that cutting the vines back excessivly will result in all new vine and not many grapes but i felt i had no choice. I will see this summer how it works but plan on keeping excessive new growth pruned back during the season. Is this wise or should I just let it go and then prune back to the same place next spring?
Jack Cook
White Bluff Tennessee
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Hi from James;I have a question My grapes are a year old and the cane is 6 feet tall on some of them and do I cut them down to with in a foot of the ground? Ps let me know as soon as posible Jim
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Hi Dear Danie,
Thank you Very much for your useful information, Now is the time of pruning in Afghanistan and i will follow your advice.
Best Regards,
Hafizi
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Hi Danie
I’m in Northern New York the ground is no longer frozen but some nites still get down below freezing . When is the best time to do spring pruning ?
Thanks , Bill
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keith nahdee Reply:
May 29th, 2010 at 4:48 am
Hi Bill, keith here on the southern shore of Lake St. Clair. I’m not an expert but I have ’spring trimmed’ in April and early May and things have grow well this way. Hope I helped. KGN
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Danie, I am reading your information and even storing it for reference. I am growing two grape vines about 4 feet apart on opposite sides of a wrought iron trellised archway as a gateway into my garden. They are seedless red grapes. I did not get a chance to prune during the dormant season because where I live, it never freezes and I couldn’t tell when dormant season is as there seemed to be green in the upper vines. I am assuming it is after the grape vine loses all of its leaves. I plan on letting the grapes do what they will this year, to see what kinds of bugs get to them and just study where I need to prune in the summer. They are flowering and now I think that I have to many grape flowers. This fall I will prune them back to start a better trained grape vine. I am just very, shall we say, afraid that I’ll do it wrong.
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Hi Danie,
I have grow a grape in my backyard. After pruning the flower bloom but the fruit form is 2-3 berries only. What wrong with the prunning. I am in a tropical land.
Jerry ong
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Thanks for the tip Danie, here in the tropical country, pruning is the most important. If you don’t do proper pruning, you don’t get fruit. But in the tropic, we r lucky because, we can adjust our pruning timing on the same vine in such a way that, we can have many sizes of fruit at one time and fruit that ripe at the wright occasions. Probably this is only suitable for grape in the home garden and not for the commercial..
Dolmalek (Kuala Lumpur)
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thank you so much for your help.
goodness knows that i have no idea what i am doing when it comes to my grape vines!
now i have about 7 different vines in various places in the yard,
and i will need all your knowledge in trying to keep them alive and tasty:)
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I live in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. Last April, In my 20’ x 10’ small patio, I have planted in one corner a grapevine that grew so fast and I have no idea how to prune it or how to train it or what kind and material or shape of trellis I must make for it. I am wondering if you could help me with some information or pictures on the above. I don’t know if your book shows any step-by-step photos or pictures of the above so I would buy it. Many thanks in advance for your kind guidance.
Tony Yabroudi
tony…@yahoo.com
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