Why you shouldn't skip autumn pruning

So that a cultivated vine doesn't go wild and degenerate, it absolutely requires care. And it's especially important to devote time to removing excess, improperly growing shoots. This affects:

  • The plant's frost resistance.
  • The size of the future fruit: berries on a neglected vine grow smaller.
  • Yield: if you don't control the number of shoots the grapevine produces, there will be a great many of them, far more than it can supply with nutrition.
  • Ripening times: a properly formed bush yields its harvest much earlier.
  • Disease resistance.
  • The ease of covering it for winter.

Timing

Pruning too early is strongly discouraged: this way the grapevine won't have time to prepare for overwintering. For the canes to harden off, you need to give them the chance to spend some time in a slight frost. But the pruning itself can only be done at temperatures above zero, otherwise frost-bitten branches will break off, and this is very harmful for the plant.

It's better to carry out the procedure right after the first frosts and when the leaves have completely fallen from the shoots, the sap flow has slowed, and the bush has entered its dormant phase. In the central belt this happens roughly at the end of October–beginning of November, in the south at the beginning of December, and in the northern regions – as early as September–October.

This is a must: how to properly prune grapevines in autumn
Photo: wirestock/freepik.com

What you need to know about the structure of a grapevine

Before cutting anything, let's figure out what parts a grape bush consists of and what functions they perform.

The trunk – the part of the stem from the roots to the first lateral shoot.

The arms (shoulders) – perennial lateral shoots (old wood) branching off from the trunk. This is the permanent foundation of the entire bush.

The eyes – the buds.

The fruiting shoot or fruiting cane – this is a long vine on which the canes that bear the harvest grow.

The replacement spur – a short vine needed in order to form a new fruiting cane later on.

A plan for carrying out autumn pruning

  • Prepare your tools. Sharpen the pruning shears well: they should cut the stem in one go. Disinfect them with an alcohol solution, and do this before working on each bush. If the diameter of the cane is more than 15 mm, it's better to use a pruning saw, and to cover the resulting cut with garden pitch.
  • Clear the trunk of weeds and leftover foliage.
  • Remove the vine from the support and carefully lay it on the ground.
  • Remove damaged, old, and diseased shoots at the base. 

Getting started with the main pruning

For grapevines of different ages it has its own particularities:

  • First year. It's not recommended to touch the plant. Its main task during this period – to form two strong arms, and a pruned vine may die because of its lack of resistance to frost. 
  • Second year. We form the foundation of the grape bush. We leave 3–4 strong arms and shorten them to 3–4 eyes. We remove the remaining canes.
  • Third year. We have 4 arms on which new shoots have already appeared. On each shoulder we select the 2 largest shoots and cut out the rest. We reduce the lower one to 3 eyes – making a replacement spur. We prune the second to 6–10 buds – this is the fruiting cane. Just in case, you can keep one more shoot and remove the weaker one in spring.
  • A mature bush (older than 3 years). We work with each arm separately. We immediately remove last year's spent fruiting vine, as we no longer need it. Out of all the shoots we leave the 2 strongest, well-ripened and lignified ones, plus 1 for a replacement spur. We prune them the same way as on a three-year-old plant.
This is a must: how to properly prune grapevines in autumn
Photo: freepik /freepik.com

Let's remember the important rules of pruning:

  • Hold the shears perpendicular to the trunk, so that the area of the resulting wound is as small as possible.
  • Cut precisely, in a single motion: the cut shouldn't be «ragged».
  • Direct all cuts toward the outer side of the bush, so as not to disrupt the sap flow.
  • Cut 1–2 cm above a live bud, since as the cut heals the section of vine near it may dry out.
  • Work from the lower shoots upward.
  • Don't leave sections of cane filled with moisture: in spring they will become moldy, which can cause the entire bush to die. You need to cut down to the lignified part (with a green core), as it is precisely this that will continue its life the following year. 

After pruning, we treat the grapevine against pests and diseases and prepare it for covering.