| This article will shed some light on how to escape | | | | come out of dormancy earlier, and therefore |
| or help prevent early frost from devastating your | | | | increasing the chances of spring frost damage. On |
| upcoming grape crop. | | | | the other hand, as mentioned earlier, you don't |
| It is not question of if you should prune your | | | | want your grape vine to go into bud break with |
| grape vine or not; it is a question of WHEN you | | | | too many buds! |
| will prune your grape vine. | | | | You must be thinking: "This guy must have gone |
| As we all know by now (so I hope); pruning is | | | | nuts! How on earth is that possible?" I know, but |
| one of the most important manipulation you as a | | | | give me a chance to teach you a neat little trick |
| grape grower needs to do. Without pruning your | | | | you should be doing if you live in an area with |
| grape vine the correct way, you simply cannot | | | | spring frost problems. |
| expect your grape vine to produce healthy, | | | | It is called "brush cut" or "first prune": |
| good-looking grapes; even any grapes at all. | | | | "Brush cut", is the process of removing all |
| One of the main reasons so many grape growers | | | | unwanted canes from the grape vines, leaving |
| fail to have a proper grape crop, is their ability to | | | | only those canes that will be later on pruned to |
| prune the grape vine the correct way. Now, the | | | | cane bearers or spurs. This should be done before |
| question I normally get is: "What will happen if I | | | | the buds on the grape vines show signs of |
| don't prune my grape vine. | | | | swelling (normally about 3 weeks before spring, |
| Without pruning your grape vine, there will be a | | | | depending on your climate off course). |
| huge amount of buds that will sprout in spring - | | | | During "brush cut", the number of buds on the |
| having up to 300 buds on such, a grape vine is | | | | grape vine will be reduced significantly and more |
| not impossible. Now as you can imagine, for a | | | | carbohydrates will be available to the buds on the |
| grape vine to produce energy or carbohydrates | | | | fruiting canes of the grape vine. In same cases, |
| to feed all of these buds, will put your grape vine | | | | when your grape vines grew very vigorously the |
| under a huge amount of stress. | | | | previous season, the length of fruiting canes can |
| This brings us to what I want to share with you | | | | be pruned back as well, making the number of |
| in this article. | | | | buds on the vine even less, but I suggest you |
| It is a known fact that a grape vine under stress, | | | | leave the fruiting canes alone and do not prune |
| is much more susceptible to cold damage than a | | | | them. |
| well structured and previously pruned grape vine. | | | | Now, once spring is on hand, buds on these |
| Your grape vine will come out of dormancy, once | | | | fruiting canes will start to swell and drop their |
| the average temperature outside rise to about 10 | | | | scale leaves from the end of the cane (bud break |
| to 12 ºC or 50 to 53 ºF, if you prune | | | | will start from the tip of the canes). The buds on |
| your grape vine or use rest breaking agencies like | | | | the base of the cane will remain dormant longer, |
| Dormex (a chemical used by commercial grape | | | | and once the chances of spring frost is over, you |
| growers to force the grape vine out of | | | | simply prune the canes to the desired length (8 to |
| dormancy). | | | | 12 buds for canes bearers and 3 buds for spurs), |
| In the northern hemisphere, and where spring | | | | even if you have to wait until the buds on the |
| frost is a problem, cold damage after pruning | | | | base of the cane opened as well. |
| your grape vine or after the first signs of new | | | | Because there are only canes left of the vine that |
| shoot development (bud break), can ruin your | | | | will be used to bear fruit, "brush cutting" will take |
| upcoming grape crop and therefore you need to | | | | much less time than normal pruning methods. Just |
| protect these buds at all cost. | | | | remember one thing; be careful not to damage |
| Except for having a cold hardy variety, one of | | | | the remaining buds once you do "brush cutting", |
| the best ways to protect your grape vines from | | | | as the scale leaves that protected the buds will |
| spring frost, is the timing of when you will prune | | | | be soft and spongy. |
| your grape vine and how you will prune your | | | | This method of pruning will hugely improve your |
| grape vines. | | | | grape vines resistibility to cold damage and could |
| Pruning too early will result in your grape vine to | | | | save your complete grape crop! |