The Wine vineknown worldwide as vine or vine, is a plant that is very present in farms and family gardens, both for its grapes (raw material for winemaking) and for its traditional and aesthetic value. Caring for a vine properly is not easy, and one of the aspects that must be taken into account with a vine is pruning. This climber can grow quite large in the wild, but farmers and gardeners almost always prune it to keep smaller shrubs ready for harvest. This pruning cannot be done in any way. many people wonder when are the vines pruned.
For this reason, we are going to dedicate this article to telling you when to prune the vines, what are their characteristics and aspects to take into account.
When are the vines pruned?
When deciding when to prune vines, the same rules apply as with the vast majority of plants: vines should be pruned while they are in a state of vegetative dormancy. On the contrary, the plant does not properly store nutrients and becomes weak and loses a lot of energy after pruning. For this reason, the usual time for pruning is always at the end of fruiting and early spring, before it returns to activity.
In this sense, some recommend pruning between the end of winter and the beginning of spring, since the plant produces fruits that are later but more abundant and of a higher quality.
How to prune a vine
There are two types of vine pruning: training pruning and fruiting pruning.
Training pruning is carried out during the first years of the vine’s life and its function is to give the plant the proper shape and structure. This form will vary depending on the function that you want to give to the vine, it is not the same to find the maximum yield of grapes than, for example, dShade the vines in the garden.
Pruning is done on old plants that already have a sufficient base shape, the purpose is for the plants to grow healthy and bear good fruit.
How to prune young and old vines
Formation pruning is done within the first 3 or 4 years of the vine. Pruning should be done the first winter after planting, but can wait until the following year if your vines are still too small and fragile.
For the first pruning, choose the thickest and straightest branch of the vine, which will become its main branch. You should prune all other weak branches to the base, and also the main branch if it is a black vine, leaving 2 buds, or 3 buds if it is a white vine. At the next pruning, select the strongest shoot again and cut the others, leaving a main shoot about 30 cm long. Also, here it would be useful to tie the branch to a guide or support, pinch it to the branch when it has grown to the same height, and pinch the same branch the following year to a length of about 25 cm.
There are other types of pruning, but this is the most common pruning method used to allow vines to produce a lot of fruit without growing too large.
When it comes to old vines, fruiting pruning is carried out on vines that already have the necessary basic structure, proper maintenance is needed to remove the parts that are in bad shape and its branches do not throw the sun between them.
To continue stimulating the growth of the vine, you should prune away old woody branches that are no longer producing new shoots. Also prune off branches or parts that appear to be diseased or in poor condition, and remove new shoots that break through the main branch or hinder its growth by blocking light.
Steps to prune vines and provide shade
If the primary purpose of your vines is to provide shade before fruit set, pruning should be done in a completely different way. Leave only the thickest stem of the vine, tied to a support so that I can climb on it, and remove any emerging lateral branches until the vine reaches the desired height, whence it can be encouraged to grow and bushy. You place them in a way that provides enough shade when you finish covering them.
The harvest of the grapes depends on the time of pruning of the vines and the climatic conditions of the region and season. Usually, however, it begins in the summer, in the middle or end of July, and lasts until September.
Aspects to take into account when pruning the vines
Usually, the pruning of the vines is done during the dormant period of the plant, the rest of the plant. In this way, the vine will be pruned before resuming activity as it weakens and loses energy due to the lack of stored nutrients. Thus, We place the pruning season between the end of winter and the beginning of springwhen the fruiting season ends.
What is late pruning? Pruning is done just after the plants start to sprout. This time is not usually the one to prune the vines, since when cutting large reserves are eliminated.
What happens if you prune the vines before the plants go dormant? In this case we find ourselves with plants without carbohydrate reserves, and if they are not allowed to rest, germination is delayed and the plant loses vigor.
Other aspects to take into account are:
- Climatology: the wood of the vine and its branches can get sick, and when pruned it creates wounds in the wood that favor its entry. It is important to avoid rainy, foggy and very humid days as they favor the spread of the fungus.
- plant age: you have to realize that pruning young vines is not the same as pruning mature vines. Younger plants are more sensitive to frost and, unsurprisingly, do not have a great ability to recover from the effects of frost. This is why pruning of young vines should be postponed after the cold winter has passed.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about when the vines are pruned and what their characteristics are.
