How to Prune Potted Grapes
An introduction to pruning techniques for potted grapes and the care of green plants, please see the detailed introduction below.
Everyone knows that grapes are perennial vines that require vine renewal, the need to adjust the relationship between vegetative growth and reproductive growth to make the plant grow strong, maintain vigorous fruiting ability, extend the plant's lifespan and fruiting period, and achieve the goal of high yield and quality. Therefore, grapes are suitable for pruning all year round, especially during the dormant period. Seasonal pruning includes spring bud removal, summer topping and lateral shoot treatment, autumn thinning of weak and useless branches to solve the problem of canopy closure. Winter pruning is the most extensive, aimed at solving issues such as vine renewal, regulating tree strength, and yield levels.
The Significance of Grape Pruning
Shaping and pruning is an important measure in grape cultivation, which is a scientific induction of grape plants to regulate the contradictions between growth and fruiting, aging and renewal, and establish a relatively balanced relationship. Reasonable pruning can lead to good growth, early fruiting, and high-quality fruit; it can extend the fruiting period of fruit trees and delay aging by rejuvenation.
Pruning regulates the movement of water and nutrients in fruit trees, enhancing physiological activity. It transforms vegetative growth into reproductive growth. Pruning is not just a single operation; it is combined with other measures to promote local and overall physiological activity through the retention of branches. It strengthens the ability of roots to absorb nutrients and water, enhances transport function, keeps the tree strong, and ensures continuous high yields.
Improve ventilation and light conditions, enhance photosynthesis, and reduce disease occurrence. Pruning can change the direction of branches, remove excess branches, distribute new shoots evenly on the trellis, fully utilize space, improve lighting conditions, and enhance photosynthetic efficiency. We must comprehensively apply various cultivation measures based on shaping and pruning to achieve our goals. During the pruning process, we should continuously learn and carefully observe the responses of fruit trees to pruning, as the saying goes, "humility in learning is on the tree," which means to carefully observe the response after pruning, from practice to practice, to better serve agricultural production, change old concepts, establish new trends, innovate, and make progress.
The Functions of Grape Pruning
In the case of natural growth, grapes maintain a relatively stable balance, that is, the above-ground and underground parts are in balance. After pruning, this balance is disrupted, causing changes between the above-ground parts and the roots, and between the whole and the parts, to re-establish a new balance. Any technical measure in grape management, such as fertilization and watering, is a process of changing the various parts of the fruit tree under the combined conditions of the external environment, that is, a process of transformation from quantity to quality.
1. Pruning has a dual effect on fruit trees
The object of pruning is various useless branches, but its effect is not limited to the pruned branches themselves; it also affects the entire tree. From a local perspective, only one branch is removed, the first bud at the cut grows vigorously, but from a holistic perspective, it inhibits the growth of the entire tree and roots. This promoting local and inhibiting overall effect is the dual function of pruning. The promotional effect of pruning on the local area is mainly due to the reduction in the number of buds after pruning, which changes the original distribution of water and nutrients, making the nutrients and water supply concentrated in the remaining branches and buds; at the same time, pruning improves ventilation and lighting conditions, enhancing photosynthetic efficiency and raising the nutritional level of the remaining buds.
2. Regulate fruit yield to ensure high-quality and abundant harvests
Determine the yield through pruning. However, if the yield is too high and exceeds the tree's load-bearing capacity, it affects fruit quality and the differentiation of flower buds and the maturity of branches, which is not conducive to the next year's fruiting and growth.
3. Maintain a reasonable tree structure to keep the tree forever strong
The purpose of shaping and pruning is to cultivate a reasonable tree structure, conduct pruning in all seasons, adjust and maintain the tree, and ensure continuous high yields and high-quality fruit.
Grape Pruning in All Seasons
1. Pruning Time
In the past, due to insufficient mastery of grape pruning techniques, winter pruning was commonly used, neglecting pruning in other seasons. Now, the old concept has been changed, new pruning techniques are adopted, and pruning is done in all seasons to solve the problems of lighting and canopy closure. Reasonably control, save, use, supplement, consume, and make the tree reach a balanced state of nutrition.
(1) Spring pruning. This is the spring bud removal method, removing multiple buds, weak buds, and suckers to save nutrients, ensuring that all nutrients are supplied to the remaining buds, commonly known as nutrient conservation.
(2) Summer pruning. Topping of fruiting and vegetative branches, lateral shoot treatment, pinching inflorescences, and secondary fruit cluster shaping, thinning, and other tasks.
(3) Autumn pruning. The task in autumn is to perform secondary lateral shoot topping, thinning closed branches, weak branches, and branches with low lignification, adjusting the number of branches and ensuring that each branch receives light, improving lighting conditions and making the trellis more permeable.
(4) Winter pruning. Winter pruning of grapes involves the largest amount of pruning and the removal of the most branches, which is an effective method to determine the yield for the coming year.
2. Pruning Standards
Determined by the variety characteristics, tree strength, tree age, trellis type, and yield. There are methods such as thinning, short shoot pruning, medium shoot pruning, long shoot pruning, ultra-long shoot pruning, double branch renewal, and single branch renewal.
(1) Thinning method: Removal of weak and useless branches.
(2) Short shoot pruning method: Pruning 2-3 buds, which is for newly planted young trees and involves flat pruning.
(3) Medium shoot pruning method: Pruning 3-5 buds, which is for filling in gaps and increasing the amount of branches and leaves.
(4) Long shoot and ultra-long shoot pruning (6-12 buds) are generally used on the main vines to be extended, such as the main vines of small trellis cultivation that need to be extended onto the trellis.
(5) Double branch renewal: On the basis of last year's pruning, retain 1-2 buds on each of the two branches for pruning. However, double branch renewal needs to be done when there is space on the main vine, otherwise the trellis becomes closed, ineffective leaves increase, causing nutrient consumption.
(6) Single branch renewal: This means cutting off one of the original double branches, retaining one branch, and then shortening the retained branch, known as single branch renewal.
(7) Major and minor renewal: Major renewal involves cutting off the old vines from the base, retaining a suckering branch, and training it into a fruiting mother vine. Minor renewal involves replacing weak branches with strong ones to keep the tree young and extend the fruiting period.
How to Prune Potted Grapes
Four. Steps of Grape Pruning
The steps of grape pruning can be summarized in four words: three observations, two thinnings, one cutting, four extensions, and five retainings.
1. Three observations: Observe the variety characteristics, tree strength, and the relationship between different parts of the tree.
2. Two thinnings: Remove suckers, weak branches, diseased branches, and useless branches.
3. Three cuttings: Determine the appropriate amount of pruning based on the pruning standards and shorten the annual branches.
4. Four extensions: Extend the main vines of grapes for pruning. The longest cannot exceed the second wire of the trellis, and the cut diameter should remain around 0.8 cm.
5. Five retainings: Refers to the amount of buds retained. Traditional pruning methods leave 8-12 branches per square meter, with the most accurate bud count being 6-8. Less is more, meaning fewer branches left to concentrate nutrient supply to the remaining buds. The United States and Ukraine have both learned grape pruning techniques from Japan, leaving only one stick pruning except for filling space, using hidden buds to result in high yield and quality, and better benefits.
Five. Pruning Time
Pruning is generally done one month after defoliation when nutrients have already returned. However, it is necessary to see if the variety is resistant and can survive the winter safely. For example, red grapes, 'Kreuzer,' 'Golden Finger,' 'White Chicken Heart,' and others need to be buried in the soil for winter protection, so pruning time should be earlier or pruning with leaves, around the end of November or early December. Other varieties are pruned from December to January.
Six. Precautions for Pruning
(1) The cut should be smooth and free of burrs, with the cut diameter about 1-2 cm larger than the bud eye to prevent the winter bud from drying out.
(2) Protect the wound with a wound protectant or white glue.
(3) Leave a short stub when thinning large branches to prevent frostbite and remove the stub the following year.
(4) Avoid opposite cuts to prevent tree damage and spring bleeding, which can weaken the tree.
The above introduction (Green Plant Enthusiast Network) on how to prune potted grapes and the comprehensive method of pruning potted grapes is hoped to be a modest contribution to solving your green plant problems.