How to prune grape vines?

If you want the grape vines to produce more grapes, pruning the grape vines is very important. Summer pruning of grapes can improve ventilation and light conditions on the trellis, reduce nutrient consumption, regulate growth and fruiting, control the growth of new shoots, and increase yield and quality. So how do you prune grape vines? Let’s take a look below.

1. Hedge cultivation and pruning technology

The grape vines are cultivated on trellises with a height of about 150 cm. The planting method is higher in the north and lower in the south, and regular fan-shaped pruning should be adopted. Generally, 2 to 4 main vines are left on each grape vine, and 2 to 3 fruiting mother branches are left on each main vine. The fruiting mother branches should be pruned according to the medium-long shoots, and the reserve branches should be shortened except for the two buds.

2. Small shed cultivation and pruning technology

When growing grape vines on a small trellis, the trellis should extend toward the middle from south to north or other directions to ensure that the distance between the trellis and the shed film is greater than 50 cm. The dragon trunk pruning technique can be adopted. Each grape vine should retain 2 to 3 main vines, which are about 40 cm apart. On each main vine, retain a fruiting mother branch every 30 cm. About 12 fruiting mother branches can be retained in an area of ​​one square meter, and the excess ones should be cut off.

3. Pruning techniques during the growing season of grapevines

In greenhouse cultivation of grape trees, there are phenomena such as excessive growth of new shoots, and the growth is not uniform. Pruning can be carried out during the growing season of the grape trees. When pruning, it is necessary to pay attention to maintaining the density of branches. For greenhouse cultivation pruning, the total number of branches retained is about 25% less than that of open-air cultivation. It is also necessary to twist the excessive growth branches to control the excessive growth and promote the balance with the new shoots.

When pinning the shoots, more robust fruiting shoots should be retained. Some preparatory branches can be appropriately reserved. The density of the new shoots should be maintained at about 13 per square meter, and the new shoots should be guided well. For new shoots that are not retained for secondary fruiting, pinching should be done with about 6 leaves retained on the fruit cluster, and the two leaves at the top of the lateral shoots should be retained. Multiple pinching should be adopted to control the growth, and other extra branches do not need to be retained.

4. Pruning techniques after grapevines have produced fruit multiple times

1. Pruning technique to make the winter buds germinate and bear fruit: About 4 days before the grape vine blooms, pinch off the strong new shoots, leaving about 8 leaves on the bunches. Except for retaining a side shoot on the top, the excess shoots can be cut off. After about half a month, cut off all the side shoots again to allow the winter buds to germinate and bear fruit.

2. Use the summer bud lateral shoot fruiting pruning technique: half a month before the grape vine blooms, select a part of the strong new shoots, and only retain the front 2 to 3 summer buds that have not yet sprouted for pinching. If summer bud lateral shoots sprout, they should all be cut off. When it is found that the retained summer buds do not grow inflorescences after sprouting, you can retain one or two more leaves and pinch off the top. Most of the secondary lateral shoots that sprout again will have inflorescences that can bear fruits.

3. Method of promoting dormancy by low temperature: For grape vines that have been pruned in autumn, they need to be watered once with anti-freezing water, and they need to be watered thoroughly. They need to be kept under the shed before frost falls. At this time, there is no need to remove the insulation layer during the day. You can ventilate and cool down at night, control the humidity in the shed, and help it pass through natural dormancy smoothly.

Grape vine pruning is different from that of other fruit trees. Depending on different cultivation methods, the main vine can be appropriately retained. According to the density, the number of fruiting branches of the main vine can be retained, the side shoots on the fruiting branches can be increased, and timely pinching can be performed to allow more fruiting branches to sprout and increase the yield of the grape vine.