How to Prune Your Vineyard for Peak Grape Production

I stopped to see an old friend of mine last fall and he gave me a tour of his garden. At one end, I noticed an arbor with a thick tangle of overgrown vines. On closer inspection I realized it was a muscadine.

"You grow muscadines too," I asked him, indicating the tangled mess?

"Yes, but I'm about to dig it up and make a new bed, I haven't had much luck with it," he said.

I asked him if the vine had ever produced and he told me it had. It still does, but never in the abundance you would expect from such a large plant. I knew exactly what the problem was.

Not pruning a grape vine is like sowing one row of corn, it will never produce in quantities that justify the labor of planting and fertilizing.

Grapes are produced only from the new shoots that sprout from the previous year's growth. You must prune your vineyard or it will eventually become a tangled mess of unproductive greenery.

I cultivate muscadines, but not exclusively, I also grow two varieties of wine grapes developed in the Texas Hill Country. Blanc Dubuos and Spanish Black. I also have about six vines of Concord that do well in the more shaded areas of my vineyard.

.

The pruning method described here works for my vines. The following is an except from a DIY book I've been working on.

Muscadines are truly an American grape. The early settlers found them along the southern and eastern coast and into East Texas. Generally they thrive in the humid hot southeastern United States.

Old timers used to go into the forest and find a producing vine. They took a rooting or used an air layering method (that I will cover in another post) to propagate their vineyards.

It is important to note that, by far, the most prominent wild vines are masculine and will not produce fruit.

There are perfect-flowered cultivars with both male and female blossoms and female only cultivars. A list of commercial varieties can be found here. Source

A vintner will obtain a young shoot and train it along a supported wire as in the illustration.

The first year will be totally dedicated to training the vine on the trellis wires. Any fruit should be pinched off so that the plant can use its energy developing the trunk and lateral runs.

The second year of growth let the vine develop shoots from the laterals but pinch off any growth sprouting along the vertical trunk. It is this growth along the laterals you will cut during your first pruning.

Time your pruning for mid winter or early spring. I usually prune my vines in late December or as late as mid February here in central Louisiana. The conditions may vary in your area. In any case, pruning should be done when your vines are dormant and sap flow has ended.

By the end of the second year of growth your vines should be ready to trim. The following illustration refers to pruning years not growth years.

The first pruning year is simple. At each horizontal runner, cut above the first bud nub. This will be the new growth cane that will produce fruit next season. Space these spurs no more than four to six inches apart as shown in the illustration.

The second pruning year you should see another bud or perhaps two, to leave for new growth production.

By the third year you should have a well develop spur that will produce five or six productive runners along your laterals.

When the vines grow older you may have to prune off every other spur cluster to manage the vine. Too many productive spurs will weaken your vine and your volume and the size of your grapes will diminish.

By keeping your laterals running ten feet from either side of the trunk and a strict regimen of yearly pruning, your grape vines will remain healthy and produce well for many years.
.

I hope this will help you grow a more productive vineyard.

Thanks for reading and,

Carry On!

Images are the property of the author