PRUNING YOUR GRAPES
Whether you grow your grapes on a fence, trellis or arbor, annual pruning will strengthen your vines and increase the crop. Grapes are produced from the buds of one year old canes and they are vigorous growers; so be brave, any mistakes will be rectified with time. Proper pruning should remove 80 to 90% of the old vines in order to have a healthy new crop of fruit.
The first thing you should do is relax and spend some time examining the vine. Choose the main canes that you want to come out from the main trunk. It's a good idea to keep a reserve cane until the last minute, just in case you break one. You can clear some confusion by removing vines that are obviously unsuitable, too small and weak, or poorly placed. When training on a fence, you should have a main trunk and four horizontal canes, two at a height of about 2 ½ foot and two at 5 foot. Select 4 strong, lateral, year-old canes closest to those heights and tie them to the fence. Avoid large, thick canes with widely spaced buds; the ideal thickness is ¼ to 1/3 inch. Cut these to a length that leaves 8 to 10 buds, then cut two more to 2 to 3 buds. These will become next year's canes. Remove everything else. To train vines to an arbor, you must allow your main trunk to grow up and over the arbor with short laterals growing out at intervals along the way. If too many non-fruiting canes accumulate, thin about ½ out completely to rejuvenate the vine. If a desired vine is growing in the wrong direction, you may crack it to change the pattern. Use both hands to GENTLY bend the cane just until you hear the fibers crack. You may then tie it into place. Grapes should be pruned before the buds break dormancy, and in our area that would be January or February.
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By Debra Sims
