How to Prune Grape Vines

The first tip to remember is that you should not prune your grape vines during the first year of their growth.

Starting the second year you should have a healthy growth of stems and leaves, the vines may be growing in a particular direction and there would at least a couple of stout stems.

Another important tip to bear in mind is that grape vines bear fruit on one year old wood, so make sure you don't prune them off. Always prune off the two year old stems only.

Pruning should always be done when the leaves have fallen off by late fall. Make sure you prune the grape vine when it is dormant so that there is less strain when the new growth starts.

Follow the steps below when you prune the grape vine

• Leaving the two year old stem and a couple of lateral branches, prune off the rest of the branches.
• While pruning the other branches you can leaves two buds per shoot instead of clipping it off from the node.
• Don't be too concerned about clipping away the branches, when the grape vine starts budding the next spring it will make up for the loss easily.
• The growth would start from the lateral branches and the clipped branches which two bud shoot. So you can prune the branches in the direction you want the vine to grow.
• If you are a home gardener you could as well just prune off the grape vines leaving just a couple of lateral branches with a thick stem.
• Another way to prune grape vines would be to trim off all the branches to a 2 bud length.

Unless you are growing grapes for a living you need not bother too much with the calculations of where to cut the branches and how many buds to leave.

Tips to Keep in Mind While Pruning Vines

Here are a few simple tips to keep in mind while pruning vines in general.

Once the vines mature you should spend time pruning off stems when don't grow in the intended direction
• You will need to prune off any old branches and stems which don't play a role any more. Dead branches never grow back again.
• The best time to pruning your vines would be by early spring when the new growth is yet to start.
• Be judicious with your pruning; don't cut off the branches of last year since they will take flowers the present year.
• With vines you can consider pruning some of their roots off. It is observed that pruning roots helps stimulate better growth.

By late fall the top growth of the vines will die back. You should simple chop it off, to aid the plant during dormancy.

Early spring time is when you should do the repair work of removing damaged branches from the base of the stems.