Grape Vine Pruning
Howard Slights
Posts: 7
I have a 6 year established black grape vine "Muscat Bleu". It is currently throwing out long leaders way beyond the training wires. Does cutting back this growth inhibit the production of the berries or concentrate the plants effort to cosolidate the existing berries? Maybe side shoots with berries may now form ? Any ideas please !
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Posts
Hi Howard, Cutting those off is recommended. I always count two or three leaves beyond the developing bunch of grapes and snip just above a leaf. That is enough leaves to feed the developing grapes and stops the vine from wasting energy on unneccesary vegetative growth. Left to their own devices, grape vines will grow huge! Advice on pruning the rod and spur (cordon) method from the RHS here:
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=286
I prune my 30 year old plus vine in October ,never earlier and never later,and back to two stems,that is I take off all the shoots and leave two old stems.
Flowering rose, yes that's standard winter pruning which should be done to all vines. What I described is the method used to increase the size of the grapes and is what the RHS recommends to control their rampant summer growth. Nipping the tips of the shoots out at two leaves beyond the grapes will not cause any damage or bleeding.
My vine is 40+ years old and about 60 feet long and has been treated this way since I inherited it, also about 30 years ago.
Ping to bookmark this for me but also for Steve Mackley who has started a new thread on this very subject!