Grape Pruning Tips

Putting in the time to properly maintain your grape vines is important to a healthy vineyard. Pruning grapes is part of the attention, care, and maintenance that wine grapes need in order to produce the best tasting, best quality wine possible. Putting in this time now will result in good production and quality year after year.

After you build your grape trellis and make your first grape planting your attention turns to the care and maintenance of your grapes as they grow. You will "train" your vine to grow on the trellis by tying them loosely to the trellis and regularly pruning "rogue" shoots that begin to grow off the main shoot. After the basic shape of the vine is established pruning grapes continues during the dormant period, which is critical to the production of grapes.

The type of grape grown will influence the way the pruning of the grapevine. For example, hybrid varieties were developed to be hardier during the winter months and tend to produce less foliage. The annual pruning removes the previous years fruiting canes or spurs. Only one year old canes will produce fruit, so it is important that new, healthy canes are produced by the vine every year.

The amount of fruit produced can be influenced by varying the amount of pruning. A deep pruning will result in more shoots being grown and produce more foliage which in turn provides a canopy of shade which is a poor environment for the grapes to ripen.

A variety of tools are used for pruning grapes, including; loppers, hand pruners, and handsaws. When pruning, the goal is to eliminate damage and injury to the plant. The handsaw or lopper can be used for larger wood, and the hand pruners are good for the smaller more delicate pruning tasks.

Pruning grapes is part of the attention, care, and maintenance that wine grapes need in order to produce the best tasting, best quality wine possible. As with all good things, it takes work and dedication to maintain a grapevine, and along with pruning a grapevine also needs weeding, pest control, and proper care. Pruning grapes is the process of getting the plant to encourage more growth.