Growing Grape Vine

Cane vs. Spur Pruning:

Grapevines are pruned in winter by cutting away most of the vine that is not required for the next season’s growth. Cane pruning is the most common method in New Zealand. The pruner selects two or four shoots (canes) from the previous season and trains them along the trellis wires. The other canes are removed, and new shoots sprout from the buds on the selected canes in spring.

Spur pruning is done on vines that retain one or two pairs of long canes (a permanent cordon) trained along a trellis system. Each winter, new canes that have grown along the permanent cordon are cut back to a small shoot containing two buds, known as a spur. In spring new growth develops from the buds on the spur.

It appears that the flowering season is only once a year.

Trimming (leave 15 leaves beyond each clusters):

Bunch pruning (leave only one best cluster per branch):

Source: Looks legit

Does Trimming Grape Vines Produce Bigger Grapes?

ByLynn Doxon

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Large, sweet grapes are the goal when you're growing table grapes. The size of the grapes depends on the variety of grape, the health and vigor of the vine, the amount of sunlight reaching the leaves and the leaf to fruit ratio. Pruning the vines can help maintain their health and vigor, affect the amount of sunlight reaching the leaves and determine the leaf to fruit ratio. Removing clusters or reducing the size of them also has a significant effect on the size of the grapes.

Training System

• Tangled, overgrown grapevines produce small, poor-quality fruit. There are several systems you can use to train grapes. All successful systems consist of cutting off most of the canes each year and training the new growth over wires or trellises so they do not become entangled. One of the simplest is cordon system, in which the trunk is cut off at the height of the wire. A single branch is allowed to grow in either direction from the trunk. New canes are combed, or draped over the wires toward the ground.

Pruning

• Grapes grow 6 to 20 feet of new cane every year. Fruit is produced only on 1-year-old canes. About 90 percent of the wood should be pruned off each winter so the vine is not supporting excessive leafy growth and old wood. One-year-old canes should be cut back or removed so there are 40 to 80 buds per plant. This can be 20 buds on two to four canes or five to 10 buds on eight to 10 canes, depending on your training method. Fewer buds mean larger grapes.

Leaf Thinning

• To be healthy and produce large grapes the buds that will produce new canes and fruit the following year must be exposed to sun. If they are shaded by more than three layers of leaves, remove leaves selectively so the buds close to the trunk receive direct sun. Remove only the minimum number of leaves to expose the buds. Leaves produce the sugars that make the grapes large and sweet. Do not sacrifice this year's crop for next year's growth.

Cluster Thinning and Reduction

• If the vine is healthy and vigorous, the biggest factor that influences the size of the grapes is the number of fruits on the plant. With fewer fruit clusters, the grapes will become larger and sweeter. Thin the clusters during the first three weeks after fruit set. It takes 16 to 18 leaves to support a single cluster of fruit. While you don't have to do an exact count, this is a good way to estimate how many clusters to remove.