Secrets of Grapevine Pruning Through the First Growth Season
You ordered your grape stocks about 6, maybe 12, months ago. Now it is spring and they've recently been delivered. Or maybe you've grown your own personal plants the previous spring and still have taken them out of storage. The holes are dug and you're now ready to plant your vineyard - at last! Let me give you my first secret grapevines pruning tip. Here's something An excellent opportunity you do before actually planting your grapevines. Pruning it to retain only the strongest cane is much simpler when done before planting. Sometimes, two canes could be retained depending on perhaps the plant will be conditioned to a single- or a double-trunk system or as insurance against one cane failing. For the canes remaining on your grapevines, pruning each time for only three strong buds provides the basis for a good vine structure. Be sure you trim off any broken or overly long roots too. Grapevines pruning, when done properly, allows your vineyard to:
Sprinkler System Installation Grapevine
Develop good, strong vine structure
Optimaize canopy sunlight exposure
Produce excellent grapes and optimize yield
Promote next year's fruiting wood growth
Reduce disease and bug damage
With grapevines pruning, your ability to identify good quality fruiting canes to retain for cropping is important. Here's my second secret grapevines pruning tip: In the event the green shoots on the grapevines mature through late summer and fall, you will note a change in color from green to reddish-brown since they develop a layer of bark (periderm) and be hard. Pencil thick, round, well-browned canes with plump buds about 3 to a few.5 inches apart make healthiest grapevines. Pruning off flattened canes with poor color and long internodes leaves the best wood for next year's crop. Selecting canes who have developed outside the canopy along exposure to sunlight gives you better yields.
The goal of the first growing months are to develop a straight upright trunk that eventually reaches the cordon wire from the trellis. If the developing canes fall over, vertical growth in the terminal cane will probably be held up and the lateral buds in the highest point around the cane will begin to grow. This will likely hamper correct trunk development. It is therefore necessary to tie the developing canes to stakes (using twines) and take off lateral shoots. When the trunk reaches the specified wire, pinch off the tip of the trunk on the lateral shoots just below the height of the cordon wire and train the shoots in opposite directions along that wire. If utilizing a trellis system with Two or more levels of cordon wires, pinch off the tip only when the back reaches the top wire. Removing lateral shoots as well as any grape clusters at bloom will also promote vertical growth.
Any leaves growing about the developing canes should be retained as they make the required carbohydrates for nourishing your grapevines. Pruning through the first growing season promotes trunk development on the expense of root development. A greater root system promotes better top growth the next year. There is an argument for not performing any grapevines pruning at all during the first year - just train all canes up to the desired wire. Which replacement for follow will depend on any alternative vineyard management practices you have in place. Grapevines pruning can be an ongoing vineyard maintenance task that should be performed every year. The initial 3 years are critical as each season's activity includes a different objective. Revisit for more insights on all you have to know about growing grapevines, pruning methods plus more of my secret tips. At the same time, get to it - do not be afraid to cut back your grape vines - they find it irresistible!