How do you prune grape trellis?

Pruning grapes

Grapes are one of our most beautiful plants. In the summer, they are rich and productive, and in the autumn the leaves turn a beautiful tone. But in winter, when their coldest temperatures, we need to cut the vines to secure a good plant next season.

Dr Peter Meek is one of Australia's leading horticulture and he has been growing grapes as a hobby for 25 years as he prunes grapes every year as part of a routine deal "we do it mainly to control the amount of fruit that is set up, so it's really about making sure the grapes are ripe," he said.

"One of the main tasks of pruning is to tell you how many bunches of vines you want to produce and ripen in a year," he said.

It is very important that young vines start when the grape is one year old vine, because that will set it up for the following season.

Peter said the mistake most people make when training young grapes is not to cut them enough in the first season. "You want to force them to make a good strong shot, so vines are straight, good," he said.

Vine, in its second year, was heavily trimmed back in the winter and has already grown straight shot well up to the training line. To cut this, look for a stick about as thick as a pencil and cut out everything else. "These grapes should produce about half a dozen bunches of fruit this year in four peaks that will be trained out of the top of the vine," Peter said.

When the vine reaches its third year, it is time to cut it as an adult grape or proper. Peter said this involved looking for two canes to perform the right plant next season and two Spurs instead. "Spurs set up next year," he said.

Peter looks for a couple of shoots that are in the hands of the training line. The two are cut short and the other cans are long, then wrapped in wire, but wrap them in the opposite direction." Some spurs left to replace fruit cans next season "these peaks will become new fruit cans next year and the old ones will be eliminated. Every time a vine is trimmed the model itself is set up this helps the vine produce and ensures that the crop is close to the stem," Peter said.

Once the grapes have been established, there are two different ways to cut.

Pruning Spurs

This is where permanent twigs are mounted on wire mesh - so two arms are trained along a horizontal wire or a frame of ivy.

Each year, shoots or bamboo that grow vertically are trimmed back to the spurs form (spurs are small stems that a group of shoots grow from).

At each spur, choose the best or the lowest, and cut it back to two eyes - not counting the small buds closest to the base of the hur. Cut out the rest of the surge near the base, each spur left with a two-eyed stalk.

Haircut

Pruning is quite common in small vineyards, especially in cold climates. There is evidence that productivity is slightly higher, but it is unsightly.

The purpose of this type of pruning is to discard small cans with multiple eyes. The cane grows from the top of the stem of the vine. This method should be used in species with no flowers in the buds in the lower part of the canes - for example, a variety of sultans.

The aim is to identify four strong cans that will be left for the plant next year. These will grow from spurs near the trunk or from the lower part of last year's cans.

Cut all the other wood, close to the trunk, produced earlier this year and pull them out of the mesh.

Of the four of the left canes, choose two strong and cut the ends of these long fruit canes to keep them up about halfway along the adjacent vines.

Then cut the remaining two cans back to two eyes to form a spur.

Then wrap the long wood effect around the wire mesh. The tip of the toe may need to be tied to the wire.

Peter believes grapes need to be heavily trimmed when they are young. "This is to make sure you get the right model on the vine and set things right. After that, it's about getting the balance of pruning right, which is what everyone has to work for for their own vineyards. But don't be afraid to trim it, it's the key," he said.