Pruning is simply getting the plant or in this case grape vine growth, to encourage more growth.

It will take a few years for grapes to appear on your vines after you plant them, while you are waiting you will need to care for and maintain your vines and you can do this with pruning. The sort of yield that you will be able to harvest will be determined by how you prune your grape vines.

The grape vines will need to be trained to maintain their plant size, shape and productivity, this training is not something that can be done overnight – it takes years to do. If it is not done then you will fine that your vines will be growing all over the place and your yield will not be that good.

Now lets get into the training… a trellis will need to be setup for the vine to grow against, this will help the plant to take shape. You will need to make sure that the grape vine grows from one strong main shoot coming from the root, if there are other shoots they they will need to be cut off. Pruning grape vines is all about cutting back shoots, foliage and vines to help you get the best crop of grapes.
Tie that main shoot vertiacally to the trellis for growth, in the next dormant period you will prune to develop arms. The arms are two shoots on either side of the main shoot and will need to be tied horizontally to the trellis.
Any other shoots that come through will need to be pruned back. You will now have your basic grape vine shape and in each dormant period for the life of the plant you will need to do pruning which will bring about a healthy production of grapes.

There are many different varieties of grapes, which one you use will depend on where you live. The variety of grape will effect the way that you prune your grape vine as one variety (the hybrid) is a lot hardier in winter and is more resistant to diseases, this in turn means it produces less foliage then the normal variety and requires a different pruning technique.

Grapes are produced on one year old canes, so your pruning will be done to make sure that healthy new canes are on the grape vine every year. You can maximise growth by pruning more of the old shoots or minimise growth by pruning les of teh old shoots however you need to always keep an eye out for your amount of foliage as your grapes will ripen best in full sunlight, so try to keep them out of the shade.

Pruning grape vines is usually done with hand tools like hand pruners, handswaw or loppers depending on the size of the shoot you are cutting off. You will need to take care to avoid injuring the plant.

Pruning is an art form but it is an easy art form to learn and pickup and within no time at all you will be an expert pruner and have a delicious crop of grapes ready for eating or wine making.

About the Author:

Harry Rouster is a wine lover and has enjoyed making wine on a recreational level with friends and family. You can find out more about pruning grape vines at http://www.grapevine-wine.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Pruning Grape Vines – The Importance of it

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Pruning Grape Vines Length: 12 minutes...

Proper Pruning of Grapevines by Lon J. Rombough $25.00 "An excellent complement to this book (The Grape Grower) is (the) two-DVD set released in 2008 on the proper pruning and training of grapevines. " -J. Lerner, Washington Post, Dec. 13, 2008 Proper Methods For Pruning Grapevines. By Lon J. Rombough An adjunct to the award winning book, THE GRAPE GROWER, this two video set takes you step-by-step to teach you how to prune dormant grape vines ...