Prune grapevines

Grapevines put on a lot of growth in a growing season, so it’s vital to give them a good prune annually to keep them contained and set them up for the next season’s production.

The general aim is to remove all of last season’s growth, cutting the stems back to a permanent framework of branches.

Most home growers manage their vines using the spur or cordon pruning method, and this can be applied in any situation, whether your vines are trained on a trellis or over a pergola. After a vine is planted, you should focus initially on setting up the permanent framework of branches. Direct a single leader branch towards a support frame (wires, trellis or pergola), then prune the tip to encourage the formation of two or more ‘main arms’, which should be evenly spaced and tied to the support.

Once these are in place, prune back the side shoots that form along the main arms to two buds from the base. These become the ‘secondary arms’, and it’s from here that all future fruiting wood is produced. To avoid overcrowding, the secondary arms should be spaced about 15–20cm apart, and any growth that pops up between them needs to be removed.

Every winter after this, the healthiest or lowest cane growing from each secondary arm should be cut back to just above the second or third bud. These short, budded stems are called ‘spurs’. The shoots that grow from these spurs in the following season become the fruiting canes. All remaining canes, including any others that stem from the secondary arms, should then be cut back close to their base.

How to prune grapevines

If necessary, start by clearing out most of the canes, without cutting them too short. This allows you to see what you have, before carrying out the more detailed work.

Here’s a typical secondary arm. It has three canes growing from the previous season’s spur, and they all look healthy.  The lowest one is selected to form the next season’s spur. This approach helps to keep the secondary arm as short as possible.

To finish off, the new or ‘renewal’ spur is shortened to only 2–3 buds (this includes the base bud).

At any time, when a secondary arm has failed or become too long, it can be shortened or completely removed, and replaced by a cane growing from below or nearby.

When the pruning is finished, the secondary arms are nicely spaced, complete with new spurs ready to burst into leaf and fruit in spring.