Pruning grapes for beginners: how to avoid mistakes

Grape pruning is a mandatory agrotechnical technique necessary for the annual removal of most of the annual growth and some part of the older vines (if necessary). Often grape pruning for beginners is not a very clear operation. The purpose of this technique is to establish the optimal ratio in the development of the root system and the vegetative part of the bush and give it shape. Pruning is also necessary to overcome the polarity of the vine. In each specific case, pruning tasks depend on the age periods of the grape plant’s life.

Pruning young bushes, which are at the age of accumulation of vegetative mass, begin in the first year of planting to give the bush a certain shape. Then pruning mature fruiting bushes should be carried out every year to maintain their shape, obtain a good yield of the grape plant without weakening the vigor of the bush and make it easier to cover the bushes for the winter. After the grapes enter the aging period, pruning is carried out to prolong their productivity. There are also special types of pruning applied to plants damaged by frost, hail, etc.

To ensure that pruning grapes for beginners does not result in failure, you need to know the main mistakes that can be made. The most common of them is to shorten only the tops of the bush and cut out the already dry vine.Novice gardeners feel sorry for the plant, so they neglect the pruning rules. This leads to thickening of the bushes, insufficient illumination of shoots and bunches and, as a consequence, to thinning of the vine, a delay in its ripening, a decrease in the yield and a deterioration in its quality.