Great Benefits of Pruning Grapes
Pruning grapes annually will allow a healthy, productive plant. Since grapes are produced on the new growth from the one year old wood, you will want to keep a neatly pruned and balance fruit-bearing wood growing each year. It takes up to 3 years for a vine to give fruit; this allows you to tame the plant’s growth and production through grape pruning.
What is pruning grapes and why is it needed?
Pruning grapes is the process of clipping shoots and cutting excess foliage in order to control growth and ensure that no energy is spent feeding unwanted plant sections. The grapevines are trained to maintain a consistent shape, size and productivity. This process takes as much time as the growth of your first harvest.
How is it done?
When the trellis or fence is set up and grapevine has been planted, the vines will be permitted to grow from one main shoot that is tied up to the trellis. Other shoots must be trimmed back to prevent growth.
Establish the arms of the grapevine where your fruit will grow on after the dormant stage. Tie horizontally onto the trellis two shoots that emerge from the main part. Trim back all other shoots to prevent growth.
Pruning grapes during dormant season will help the grapevine take its own shape. It is a crucial step to the harvest of healthy and sweet grapes.
When is pruning grapes done?
If your vineyard is located in a place with warm climate, you can cut back your vines anytime after leaf loss in the fall and before buds break into growth in the spring. In colder climates, it is best to wait until late winter, but before any spring growth. This prevents the vines to grow too early and get nipped by a late frost.
What are the Benefits of Pruning Grapes?
The main reasons for pruning grapevines are to control the crop size, the quality of grapes and keep the growth of the vines manageable and neat.
Pruning grapes will get rid of fruiting canes or spurs from previous years that are dead or no longer productive. Healthy canes must then be grown consistently to ensure your next harvest.
Pruning will help reduce the amount of foliage in your vine as well as control the grapevine’s production. The amount of shoots you clip will be proportional to the size of your crop. It there seems to have excess foliage that creates a shady canopy, make sure to increase your regular pruning in order to maximize the amount of sunlight the vines receive.
What are the tools needed for pruning?
There are different hand tools to help you in grapevine pruning. Some of the most common are hand-pruners, handsaws and loppers.
Be careful not to injure or damage your grapevines during pruning, so as not to endanger future productivity. When removing 1 year old canes, use a hand pruner. Older branches from thick woods are pruned using a handsaw or lopper.
Pruning grapes is a fairly simple process you can rely on to have plentiful, healthy crops. It does take some time and effort but it will be very well worth the effort once you have your first harvest to enjoy.
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