Pruning: Grape Vines

The arrival of the new year marked the beginning of pruning season.  Woody perennials prefer pruning to happen during their dormant season, when all the plants' energy is concentrated in the roots rather than in bud, bloom, leaf, or fruit production.  We prune plants with the intentions of removing dead, dying, diseased, or deranged wood while at the same time encouraging both proper structure as well as increased fruit set.  At the Walnut House, upon move-in we inherited 30 feet of table grape vines that had been left untouched for a decade, and even though this was the case we still harvested absurd amounts of delicious grapes that we feasted on endlessly.  Now, with some forceful TLC, our pruning efforts will hopefully whip the tangled vines into shape and produce even more outrageous, tasty clusters the summer to come.  After reading numerous pruning guides, and watching several YouTube videos (This one was great), we set out with Lauren Bilbao as our guide to manage the chaos.  Pruning can seem like a daunting task, but with such a tactile skill there's no better way to learn than to get out and actually do it.  Here's a few highlights of wisdom gleaned from our learning experience with Grape Vines.

> There are two different types of grape pruning techniques; cane, and spur pruning.  As a general rule cane pruning fares better for table grapes, while spur pruning is favored for vineyard grapes.

> Grape vines only set fruit on first year wood (canes that grew the most recent past growing season).  So unless you're saving cordons for spur pruning you only want to preserve the youngest canes growing off the trunk.  Younger growth has smooth bark where older growth has bark with a shaggy texture.

> With some sort of marking material, flag the canes and/or cordons you want to preserve as your final producers as soon as possible during the pruning process.  We used flagging tape that we tied onto each cordon at several spots down it's length since the entire vine was such a mess to clear through in the beginning.  This way you won't accidentally chop off the best looking wood for production while you're busily snipping away.

> If you're worried about possible frost damage after you prune, leave a few extra buds on the end of the cane to sacrifice to the weather.

> If it's warmer where you live than it is for us in Eugene, or if global warming really starts to catch up, don't worry so much about sap leaking from your cut sites.  The wounds will heal themselves.