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Pruning Wine Grapes
Mark L. Chien
Viticulture Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension http://pawinegrape.com/
Workshop Goals
• Teach how to prune the two primary commercial vineyard
systems:
– Head trained/cane pruned
– Cordon trained/spur pruned
• Trellis and training systems
• Vine size and balance and balanced pruning
• Pruning equipment and supplies
• You cannot learn to prune a vine by reading a book or
coming to a 3 hr workshop. Learn by doing!
Key Viticulture Goals
• Ripen grapes to optimal maturity
• Ripen wood to maximum maturity for cold
hardiness
• Uniformity within and between vines
• Keep grapes free of disease and pests
Proper Pruning Begins Before Vines are
Planted
• Decide what kind of wine is being grown
• Choose a site to support that decision and create a balanced
vine
• Correct vineyard design and installation to achieve a
balanced vine
• Apply proper vineyard management to encourage vine
balance each year
Why We Prune
• The big decisions have been made
Now you have to live with them!
• Size and shape the vine
for performance and management
• Balance the vine for optimal vegetative growth and amount of fruit (reproduction), first attempt at crop and canopy management
• Create as strong and healthy vine
• Select nodes/shoots for best possible quality and position
• Fill trellis space for optimal production and profit
Pruning Grapes
• Hard work
• Cold work
• Requires a firm back
• Require the right equipment
• Requires skill, knowledge,
creativity, experience and
patience
Getting Ready to Prune…
• Use the right equipment, it needs to be comfortable and the right tool for the
job!
• Quality of work and comfort are directly related: wear the right gear
according to the conditions
• Stay warm and dry, especially the hands, head and feet
• Learn while you work: NPR, books, etc.
• Take breaks. Have hot drinks and water available
• Sharpening stones and oil
• Flagging material, ties, note pad, etc.
• First-aid supplies available
Felco #2
Felco #6
Corona B3225
The Basics: Pruning Shear, Lopper and Saw
Other things you need:
• Grinder
• Wet stone and oils
• Hand stones
• WD-40
• Spare blades and parts Folding Saw
Keys to Pruning Success
• How to sharpen loppers and shears
– In the field
– In the shop
• Strip them down and oil them
• Always have replacement parts on hand
• Be careful. Emphasize safety, especially with non-manual systems!
• Work with and supervise your crew. Only you can assess the quality of
the work!
Keep ‘em sharp
Vine Size and Balance and Balanced Pruning
• The concept of vine size and balance
• What is the ideal vine size and balance for your vineyard?
• A balanced vine begins before vines are planted with proper soil
evaluation
– soil capacity: water and nutrients
– vine vigor: variety, clone, rootstock
• Balancing mature vines.
• Making adjustments in the vineyard
– Extra buds (high vigor): kicker canes, more/longer spurs, divided
canopies
– Fewer buds (low vigor): smaller vine
• Benefits
– Disease control
– Improved fruit quality and quantity
Smart’s Golden Rules
• 12-16 nodes per pound of pruning weight
• 5-10 lb of fruit per pound of pruning weight
• 0.2-0.4 pounds of pruning weight per linear foot of trellis
• 4-5 shoots per linear foot of trellis (super high quality
vinifera 2-4)
From: Intrieri and Filipetti American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 50th Anniversary
Interpretive Pruning
• based on experience
• visual adjustment
• shoot length and canopy fill
tell the story of balance
• why is vine too big or
too small?
Mark’s Golden Rules
• Have a concept of what you are pruning towards visually, philosophically
and economically
• Keep trellis full, vines in full production for maximum balance yield,
quality and profit
• Prune for production first, then position and shape – think one year ahead
• Anticipate. If something goes away how will you most quickly replace it
• Efficiency: prune well to maximize all vineyard operations and practices
• Experience: get the same people to prune every year
Pruning Guidelines
• Prune for crop first, position second and always for vine shape
• Stop, look and think and select and check fruiting wood first then prune around it
• Measure twice, cut once rule. Once you cut it’s gone.
• Prune for sun canes
• Do not use laterals for fruiting wood
• Make clean cuts, close to the old wood
• Check wood quality, especially in cane pruning for dead wood
• Use the right tool for the right cut
• Leave 1” from tips of canes and spurs
• Cut with angle down and away from tip
• Do not let spurs get too long
• Leave 6-8” between end of shoots and canes
• Do not let the head area get too crowded – renewal spurs, suckers, etc.
• Prune to 5/8 inch or pencil diameter
• Vigorous vines: more buds. Weak vines: fewer bud
• Check for trunk diseases: Eutypa, Botryosphaeria, Petri disease
Guidelines, continued…
• Keep pruning tool clean, sharp and oiled
• Sanitize if there is disease: clorox in a spray bottle
• Do not cut wires or stakes
• Leave extra canes or spurs, double prune, insurance
• Tendrils – cut now or later
• Old ties and junk on the trellis
• Mark vines that need to be revisited
• To tie or not to tie . . .
Cane vs. Spur Pruning?
Spur: traditional in warm areas
• Easier?
• Faster?
• Less labor – no tying
• More uniform shoot growth
across a longer vine spacing
• Double pruning for frost
avoidance
• Easier to mechanize and pre-
prune
Cane: traditional in cool areas
• Fewer pruning cuts
• Better bud fertility
• Less shoot thinning
• Don’t have to renew spur positions
• Less permanent wood, possibly less
disease pressure and fewer problems
with trunk diseases
• Less perennial wood may reduce
overall vine vigor
New and Young Vine Pruning and Training
It’s all about…
• root development and establishment
• developing permanent vine superstructure
• a straight trunk(s) and well-established cordon arms
• One or two trunks?
• the right vine spacing to achieve a balanced vine
• …are you going to crop in 2nd or 3rd year?
• relative vine vigor
• How low to go? 2 bud, half-way, fruit wire?
Winter and Frost Injury to Vines
• Information resources
– Bob Pool’s web site:
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/pool/GrapePagesIndex.html
– Winter Injury and Methods of Protection. Zabadal, et. al.
• Prune according to cold hardiness of varieties and value
– Native > white hybrid > red hybrid > white vinifera > red vinifera
• Double prune vines
• Assessing bud and vine damage
• Leave extra buds – long spurs or extra canes
• Do extra trunks help?
• Keep your vines in balance and in good health
• Site selection: wet and cool soils
Pulling Brush
• Removing 90+ percent of previous year’s growth
• Teams of 2 – one cut, one pull and switch
• Cut tendrils and remove brush
• Pull down and away on VSP
• Safety glasses
• Pull into every other row
• Remove or burn in place or chop?
– Disease
– fertilizer
Tying and Training Vines
• Use the right tying material
– Agtyes for trunks and cordons
– Tytape for canes and shoots
– Bread ties for fruiting canes
• Timing: when the sap flows but well before bud break
• Cracking cold weather canes
• Leave extra nodes then prune to correct length
• Do not over-wrap canes on fruiting wire
• Tie off the ends securely, leave 6-8” between canes or cordons
• Kicker canes
Trellis and Training Systems for Wine Grapes
• Single, vertical canopy
– Vertical Shoot Position
– High wire cane or cordon (hanging
• Divided vertical canopies
– Scott Henry
– Smart-Dyson
• Divided horizontal canopies
– Geneva Double Curtain
– Lyre
Cane and spur pruning videos for Oregon State University
http://wine.oregonstate.edu/vineyard
Start by reading then ….
…learn by doing !!!
• Get a job or volunteer at a good vineyard
• Find someone knowledgeable to train you
• Don’t pick up bad habits
• Practice (preferably on someone else’s vines)
• Understand the principles and practices
• Do it right from the start: vine training and pruning
• Visit vineyards in the winter and summer and observe, remember and learn
• Ask good questions
Mark L. Chien
Viticulture Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Lancaster, PA
http://pawinegrape.com/
Any Questions??