Smooth, pale brown canes about as thick as a pencil, bending without snapping rather than flaking away: those are the shoots that carry a grapevine’s most fruitful eyes. Pruning is really the art of choosing them, and leaving at least three buds on each of last year’s shoots is what turns bare winter wood into magnificent bunches.
It isn’t difficult, but there are a few rules to follow so that the plant may bear magnificent grape bunches.
Don’t be afraid of starting, because there is no “bad pruning”: your experience will build up until you perfectly master the pruning of a grapevine.
Grapevine is pruned twice during the year, at the end of winter after the stronger frost spells and in summer during fruit formation.
This is also when fruit tree fertilizer is added, which guarantees an abundant harvest.
Winter or autumn pruning of grapevine
Cordon pruning: horizontal arms carrying short two-bud spurs
At this time, grapevine is dormant and the sap has gathered in the roots.
The ideal timing is thus between February and March, while avoiding frost spells.
If the weather is mild in your area, it is possible to prune your vines as soon as the leaves have fallen off.
Spring pruning in areas where winters are cold
In colder regions, or in places where deep freezing might still occur in March, best is to wait until the very beginning of spring to prune, but it is the last chance.
Summer pruning of grapevine
This is a fruit-inducing pruning which isn’t mandatory.
It boils down to reducing the number of bunches down to 5 per stem, and cutting each shoot that doesn’t bear any fruits back to the trunk.
You can also eliminate the small and tiny bunches of grapes because their productivity would be weak.
The three prunings of a grapevine, and when each one happens
A grapevine is pruned twice a year, and the winter cut shifts with your climate. Use this table to work out which of the three moments applies to your vine before you pick up the secateurs.
The three prunings of a grapevine, and when each one happens
Pruning
When
Best suited to
What you actually cut
Winter (or autumn) pruning
Late winter to early spring; in mild areas from mid-autumn, once the leaves have dropped
The main structural pruning, done while the vine is dormant
Dead wood, stems from the low trunk, then last year’s shoots cut back to at least 3 buds
Spring pruning
The very beginning of spring, and no later
Cold regions where deep freezing may still strike in early spring
The same winter cut, simply delayed until the hard frosts have passed
Summer pruning
Summer, during fruit formation
Optional; a fruit-inducing pruning for better bunches
Reduce to 5 bunches per stem, remove fruitless shoots and the tiniest bunches
Whichever moment you choose, avoid frost spells and feed with fruit tree fertilizer at the same time.
General guidelines for winter pruning
The pruning of grapevine is actually the art of choosing the right buds which are also called eyes.
Some buds won’t bear any grapes while others will be very fertile.
The more fertile buds:
These are those that appear on one-year-old wood (growth from the previous year).
Buds that won’t bear anything:
The buds that grow from the intersections of older branches or off a previously cut shoot.
You can recognise last year’s wood by its smooth, pale brown bark that bends without snapping, whereas older grapevine wood is grey, hard and flaking.
Canes about as thick as a pencil carry the most fruitful buds.
Leave a short length of wood above the last bud you keep, because the cut end dries back and a flush cut can kill that eye.
When counting buds for pruning, begin at the first well-developed eye, since the basal or “non-count” bud at the cane’s base is poorly developed and often unfruitful, so growers conventionally exclude it.
Basic pruning to grow nice bunches on your grapevine
First, remove dead wood.
Then, remove stems that grow from the lower part of the vine trunk.
Afterwards, focus on the shoots that have grown during the previous year.- Cut these shoots retaining at least 3 buds (eyes) per shoot.
– These will be the most fertile shoots and they will bear grapes.
– If you cut the entire shoot off, you won’t have any grapes.
As years go by, you’ll progressively remove old wood and replace it with new shoots.- And experience will show you the way…
– You mus renew the grapevine as years go by in that you remove old wood and let new shoots grow longer.
– These are the important shoots, and after bearing they will also be removed.
Image credits (edits Gaspard Lorthiois):
CC BY 2.0: Jim Fischer
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0: ytblue, Alasam
Written by Gaspard Lorthiois | Loves helping out, especially when it comes to growing things. Worked in herbal medicine, runs a farm, and dabbles in tech. Master's degree and engineer.
