Grapes and pruning. HOW??

[creepycrawley]

Hello... Well, this is gonna seem really weird but, we got a new house here, and there's a grapevine stretching all the way upto the roof (about 20m to 25m or so) and the owners say that it never gave any fruit , and they had it for about 8 years I think... I read a few posts here and they mention something about 'pruning' the vine... Can someone please tell me how exactly to prune the vine? I got a Dorling Kindersley book on herbs too, and there's a section on vines which has grapes, and it mentions there too that excessive pruning is required to cultivate the fruit.. So can anyone help out please? Spring has just started here and the vine is growing new shoots all over, and I'd like to try and prove them wrong about the fruit... .. Any help would be appreciated...

Thankye!!

[cynthia_h]

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13237

is the thread where the info on pruning grapevines was posted.

But since you're in Southeast Asia, maybe the advice will need to be changed? My roses (for example) have a very short dormancy of about 3 weeks in January. If I don't prune them then, I miss my chance for the year for doing a BIG pruning.

You can always cut off deadwood and crossing branches any time of the year, but I'm not sure what a major pruning in the middle of putting out new growth will do to a plant.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[creepycrawley]

Hey, thanks for the link but there's one important fact I forgot to mention: I'm totally new to gardening, and my current practical experience is restricted to shrubs and trees... . So if you can walk me through as to what exactly is meant by pruning a vine, and how much should be done, where to prune from etc. etc. I'd be eternally in your debt.. . As it is, thanks to you, at least I have some idea of what I'm supposed to do here..

I'm gonna upload a few links here so you can see where I'm coming from.. Hope the pictures are ok, cuz I'm a dreadful photographer

[img]https://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt117/creepycrawley/19042009017.jpg[/img]


[img]https://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt117/creepycrawley/19042009019-1.jpg[/img]


[img]https://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt117/creepycrawley/19042009020.jpg[/img]


[img]https://i603.photobucket.com/albums/tt117/creepycrawley/19042009019.jpg[/img]


Basically our climate here now is late spring to summer, with sporadic monsoon rains a couple of days every week or so.. Summer is pretty hot, temperatures rising to almost 40 degrees C on really hot days... Hopefully that helps... And thanks again...

[The Helpful Gardener]

Pruning should be done in dormancy, which I'm not sure you'll get. Pruning active vines causes them to "bleed" huge quantities of fluid, and can be quite debillitating to the plant. Is there ever a point where the leaves drop?

HG

[creepycrawley]

Hmmm.. Yes the leaves do fall off, in late October to mid November... Is that when it is dormant??

[The Helpful Gardener]

Yes. THAT'S when to prune...

HG

[creepycrawley]

AH, alright... I see now.. Many thanks for the info.. Oh and I read your original post about pruning the branches and all, I just wanted to be clear on a few points:

1. What's the difference between pruning the branches, and trimming them?
2. How long usually before the vine bears fruit, and is there any special treatment for it to do so? It said in the Dorling Kindersley book on herbs I got that, quote, 'stems severely pruned in cultivation'.. Is that with reference to the vine itself, or its fruits?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Hard pruning is generally considered to set heavier fruit. I am not sure of a definition between pruning and trimming, other than you cannot call hard pruning a trim. It's a butch haircut... there is cane pruning and spur pruning...

[url]https://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=624&storyType=garde[/url]

Hope this helps...

HG

[creepycrawley]

OMG!! .. This is unBELievable!! Thanks a ton for the link, it's got EVERYthing I needed!.. ..