How to Prune a Dormant Grapevine

There are three varieties of grapevines: American, French-American and Vinifera.

Grapevines should be pruned once a year to keep them healthy and producing new fruit. An overgrown grapevine will not grow as many grapes as one that is well taken care of. The best time of year to prune a grapevine is during the winter, when the vine is dormant. Once the last of the leaves has fallen off, the vine is ready for pruning, although you should wait until late winter. To prune the grapevine properly, several steps should be followed.

Things You'll Need

• Garden shears
• Handsaw
• Small scale

Instructions

1. Determine which canes should be pruned. Each grapevine consists of three parts: the trunk, which grows out of the ground and supports the vine; the single fruiting canes that grow directly out of the trunk, and the renewal spurs, which emerge from the single fruiting canes. Healthy fruiting canes are those that are no more than 1/2 inch in diameter, are close to the trunk and are made of firm, brown wood. Any without these characteristics or those showing signs of disease or insect infestation should be removed.

2. Grasp the shears by their handles and clip off all the unhealthy canes and renewal spurs as close to their bases as possible. Canes should be cut where they grow out of the trunk and spurs where they emerge from the cane. Use a handsaw if the cane is too thick for the clippers to work properly.

3. Place a scale on the ground and weigh the canes and spurs that you remove. To keep the grapevine balanced, leave 20 healthy buds for the first pound that has been pruned and an additional 10 buds for each additional pound. For example, a grapevine with 2 pounds of canes and spurs removed must have at least 30 buds remaining. The buds are the area on the vine that the bunches of grapes grow from and form a "nub" protruding slightly from the canes and spurs. Removing too many buds will prevent the vines from producing a healthy quantity of grapes.

4. Discard the canes and spurs that have been pruned from the grapevine with your other yard waste.

References

• Ohio State University Extension; Basic Principles of Pruning Backyard Grapevines; Maurus Brown, et al.
• Texas Winegrape Network; Pruning Grapevines; El Hellman; 2007

Resources

• Iowa State University Reiman Gardens: Pruning Grapevines