Summer Grape Pruning Techniques
You may not be familiar with the experience of melons, fruits, and vegetables like grapes. Let's learn about summer grape pruning techniques together.
Summer grape pruning, generally known as shoot removal, is usually carried out from grape germination to the inflorescence emergence period. The earlier the shoot removal, the less nutrient consumption. The method is: remove all buds from the trunk and old vines, including germinated buds, adjacent buds, weak buds, diseased and insect-infested buds, dense buds, and buds with few fruits, to ensure the remaining buds are evenly distributed and grow robustly, promoting fruit setting.
The timing and frequency of summer grape topping should be determined based on the variety, tree vigor, and pruning method. Topping during the flowering period can stop the growth of new shoots for 10-15 days, directing nutrients to the inflorescence, ensuring good pollination, and improving fruit setting rate. For strong fruiting branches, leave 4-6 leaves above the inflorescence for topping, extendable branches leave 12-20 leaves for topping, and reserve branches leave 10-15 leaves for topping. This is beneficial for promoting fruit maturation and accelerating lignification of the vine.
Secondary shoot treatment involves removing all secondary shoots below the fruit cluster and leaving 1-4 leaves on the upper part for topping. Subsequent secondary shoots, except for the topmost one, should be removed. On developing vines, leave 2-3 leaves for topping, and if there is a flower cluster, it can be retained; otherwise, only the top one is left, and the rest are removed.
Circular stripping involves removing a 3-5 mm layer of bark around the middle part of the section below the fruit cluster with a small knife or circular stripping shears.
Removing tendrils and tying vines is done to save tree nutrients. Tendrils should be removed as much as possible. The 2-3 tender tendrils at the tip are best retained to maintain the growth point advantage, and they should be removed when the new shoots extend more than 25 cm. To prevent vine breakage and uneven distribution on the trellis, a tie is usually made at 30-40 cm on the vine for the fence trellis and at 1 meter for the pergola trellis.
Leaf removal is done to improve the lighting conditions near the fruit cluster, promoting fruit coloring. Leaves are generally removed when the fruit becomes soft.
The above is a specific introduction to summer grape pruning techniques, hoping you will like it!