How to Prun a Grapevine

We are here in Dutch Flat California at our vineyard in Squire Canyon. It is January 1, 2007, New Year’s Day. The sun is shining. It is dry and fair. It seems like a good time to begin to prune the vines. This is a Zinfandel vine that I am standing next to, planted in May of 2006. It has grown 3.5 feet perhaps and doing very well for its first growth season. So it is time to prune it. First remove the protective tube that was placed over the young vine when first planted and clean out some of the dead leaves that have fallen down here. Aha! We see that we have got two trunks or canes growing up. We only want one. So we are going to make this the central one and take this one out. The object is to train them so that they grow and develop one strong central trunk. I am going to cut these little shoots off, these tendrils, get rid of them and there are not too many on this vine. Otherwise, it looks good and the object is to leave at the top five buds. This is not really a bud there so we have got five and all the rest are coming out. Because they will just cause trouble for us in the spring and detract from what we want to be happening at the top where the vines. Ultimately will be wired at a height of about 42 to 48 inches and the wires stretch taut between iron stakes on the ground and then they will be trained to grow up horizontally so we don’t want grapes growing down here. We want grapes only growing at the top. Some of these shoots you can just break off, snap off, or pinch off with your thumb nail. Others need to be trimmed. So now we straighten it up. As you can see, it has already reached a pretty good height for a very young vine. I am pretty happy with that now. That is out job. We finished our pruning and I wish you a happy New Year.



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