Prunning vines

[gerryh]

My knowledge of gardening, and interest in gardening, is extremely limited.
I have some vines that need pruning. Normally I just hack at them in Jan/ Feb
I live fairly near the coast and don't have any frost.
The lowest temperature I have recorded since I've lived here has been 1 deg C.
When is the best time of year to prune vines?
Cheers
Gerry

[Wicksey]

We prunn (!) ours around now. We have seen some of our neighbours starting to do theirs so I guess that's a good sign.

We cut the side shoots down to two buds and cut out any main branches we don't want as we are trying to train them along wires, French style, with another one growing over a pergola. Around here the locals grow theirs on the ground and seem to cut off everything bar a couple of shoots. It was described to us as like being like a finger and a thumb on each vine.

[Gasman]

If like Wicksey you are training them along wires, select one of this years stronger lengths and train that on the wire, wrapping it round a couple of times, cut everything else back to 2, maximum 4 buds back near the main stem, and cut your leader to about 2/3 its length. You can either keep the same leader in future years, or refresh each year by cutting that one back and training a new one up. If your vines are individuals, go for the Goblet style which gives a cup-like shape, ideally having 5 or 6 short branches with 2-4 buds on each. If they are up a pergola or fence, then keep the leaders already esablished and trim back to 2 buds all this years growth - again if you feel the leaders are getting too old, cut back severely and select new leaders from the recent growth - trim back to firm wood.
Pruning time is basically - follow the locals ... watch out for the neighbours doing theirs. January/february is generally best when the temperatures are at least coolest even if you have no frost. Do not do immediately after the leaves have fallen off in the back end of the year or you may have premature sprouting of the buds! Again dont leave it too late in the spring either, or the new growth will be wasted all along the bits you should have chopped off!
If there is any chance of mildew or other fungus attacks, you should spray with Bordeaux mix or other copper-based spray after the leaves have fallen off, and again after pruning, then as the buds are bursting, then after the grapes have set.

[gerryh]

Thanks for the advice, just what I needed.
I'll prune the vines next week.
Cheers
Gerry

[ashtondav]

On a related topic, do you need to water vines or are they drought tolerant given decent natural watering in winter and spring.

[Wicksey]

Ours need irrigation, particularly these days when the winters and springs have been so dry. The fruit forms over the summer months so needs water. Our neighbours that grow vines for their own wine and have the ones that grow like bushes on the ground also have irrigation pipes to theirs.

[Enrique]

Hi ashtondav,
Will depend on the soil you have them planted in............never water ours, normally pick out all the flowers as they are grown for shade, missed out last year so now have 30ltr of wine/ vinegar........depending how that turns out..........did it the traditional way had OH treading the grapes...........

Soil seems still damp as the olive net spikes are easy to push in and come up damp. ( they stop the olives rolling of the bottom of the nets on sloped ground......info for non olive pickers ).............

[ebbnflow]

We have two vines (both inherited from the previous owners), one which also provides shade, we let grow two seasons and then hard prune back. It gives an excellent crop every year which we let a neighbour pick for his wine making in exchange for other produce. We don't irrigate as the soil is very good with a not-so-deep water table. The other we regard as a pest because of its awkward position, we don't have the heart to kill it off so instead very hard prune it twice a year.

[linajeff]

Ours need irrigation, particularly these days when the winters and springs have been so dry. The fruit forms over the summer months so needs water. Our neighbours that grow vines for their own wine and have the ones that grow like bushes on the ground also have irrigation pipes to theirs.

I have always wanted to try out vines. I mean, now that i read about how successful your neighbours seem to be, its def given me some form of inspiration.