Why Pruning Grapes Increases Your Yield

Grape growing and pruning grapes go hand in hand. The right amount of pruning done at the right time is all that is required. Why should we prune our grapes?

It is the farmer's best kept secret that pruning will produce the best fruit. But be careful, if you do too much you will actually have no fruit.

The correct way to prune grapes:

1) Remove canes which produced fruit last year. Every new year new canes will produce fruit.

2) Dormant Season is the best time to prune grapes. Select 4 to 6 1 year old fruiting branches. Cut these back. Make sure you leave 30 - 50 buds. All remaining branches must be removed. We need to achieve a balance between fruit production and shoot growth.

The concept of pruning grapes is based on the idea that a balanced vine will have strong, but not overvigorous, cane growth from all buds that are retained. So while pruning you selectively remove unsuitable or extraneous canes, retaining a small number of good canes.

Some Usefule Resources:
How To Grow Grapes
Growing Grape Vines
Pruning Grapes The Right Way