Pruning Wine Grapes

Mark L. Chien

Viticulture Educator

Penn State Cooperative Extension http://pawinegrape.com/

Workshop Goals

• Teach how to prune the two primary commercial vineyard

systems:

– Head trained/cane pruned

– Cordon trained/spur pruned

• Trellis and training systems

• Vine size and balance and balanced pruning

• Pruning equipment and supplies

• You cannot learn to prune a vine by reading a book or

coming to a 3 hr workshop. Learn by doing!

Temperance Hill Vineyard

105 acres: 85,000+ vines

Key Viticulture Goals

• Ripen grapes to optimal maturity

• Ripen wood to maximum maturity for cold

hardiness

• Uniformity within and between vines

• Keep grapes free of disease and pests

Cordon trained, spur pruned

Vines at Clovis Point on

Long Island

Proper Pruning Begins Before Vines are

Planted

• Decide what kind of wine is being grown

• Choose a site to support that decision and create a balanced

vine

• Correct vineyard design and installation to achieve a

balanced vine

• Apply proper vineyard management to encourage vine

balance each year

Why We Prune

• The big decisions have been made

Now you have to live with them!

• Size and shape the vine

for performance and management

• Balance the vine for optimal vegetative growth and amount of fruit (reproduction), first attempt at crop and canopy management

• Create as strong and healthy vine

• Select nodes/shoots for best possible quality and position

• Fill trellis space for optimal production and profit

Pruning Grapes

• Hard work

• Cold work

• Requires a firm back

• Require the right equipment

• Requires skill, knowledge,

creativity, experience and

patience

Getting Ready to Prune…

• Use the right equipment, it needs to be comfortable and the right tool for the

job!

• Quality of work and comfort are directly related: wear the right gear

according to the conditions

• Stay warm and dry, especially the hands, head and feet

• Learn while you work: NPR, books, etc.

• Take breaks. Have hot drinks and water available

• Sharpening stones and oil

• Flagging material, ties, note pad, etc.

• First-aid supplies available

Felco #2

Felco #6

Corona B3225

The Basics: Pruning Shear, Lopper and Saw

Other things you need:

• Grinder

• Wet stone and oils

• Hand stones

• WD-40

• Spare blades and parts Folding Saw

How to

avoid carpal

tunnel syndrome

Keys to Pruning Success

• How to sharpen loppers and shears

– In the field

– In the shop

• Strip them down and oil them

• Always have replacement parts on hand

• Be careful. Emphasize safety, especially with non-manual systems!

• Work with and supervise your crew. Only you can assess the quality of

the work!

Keep ‘em sharp

Suppliers

http://www.orchardvalleysupply.com/

http://www.gemplers.com/

Vine Size and Balance and Balanced Pruning

• The concept of vine size and balance

• What is the ideal vine size and balance for your vineyard?

• A balanced vine begins before vines are planted with proper soil

evaluation

– soil capacity: water and nutrients

– vine vigor: variety, clone, rootstock

• Balancing mature vines.

• Making adjustments in the vineyard

– Extra buds (high vigor): kicker canes, more/longer spurs, divided

canopies

– Fewer buds (low vigor): smaller vine

• Benefits

– Disease control

– Improved fruit quality and quantity

What balance looks like . . .

Smart’s Golden Rules

• 12-16 nodes per pound of pruning weight

• 5-10 lb of fruit per pound of pruning weight

• 0.2-0.4 pounds of pruning weight per linear foot of trellis

• 4-5 shoots per linear foot of trellis (super high quality

vinifera 2-4)

From: Intrieri and Filipetti American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 50th Anniversary

Interpretive Pruning

• based on experience

• visual adjustment

• shoot length and canopy fill

tell the story of balance

• why is vine too big or

too small?

Mark’s Golden Rules

• Have a concept of what you are pruning towards visually, philosophically

and economically

• Keep trellis full, vines in full production for maximum balance yield,

quality and profit

• Prune for production first, then position and shape – think one year ahead

• Anticipate. If something goes away how will you most quickly replace it

• Efficiency: prune well to maximize all vineyard operations and practices

• Experience: get the same people to prune every year

Classic cordon training

with spur pruning

Jonata Vineyard in Santa Barbara County

Beckstoffer To Kalon in Napa Valley

Araujo Eisele in Napa Valley

Too many nodes, too little space

The shoot crowding that results from incorrect vine spacing

Pruning Guidelines

• Prune for crop first, position second and always for vine shape

• Stop, look and think and select and check fruiting wood first then prune around it

• Measure twice, cut once rule. Once you cut it’s gone.

• Prune for sun canes

• Do not use laterals for fruiting wood

• Make clean cuts, close to the old wood

• Check wood quality, especially in cane pruning for dead wood

• Use the right tool for the right cut

• Leave 1” from tips of canes and spurs

• Cut with angle down and away from tip

• Do not let spurs get too long

• Leave 6-8” between end of shoots and canes

• Do not let the head area get too crowded – renewal spurs, suckers, etc.

• Prune to 5/8 inch or pencil diameter

• Vigorous vines: more buds. Weak vines: fewer bud

• Check for trunk diseases: Eutypa, Botryosphaeria, Petri disease

Guidelines, continued…

• Keep pruning tool clean, sharp and oiled

• Sanitize if there is disease: clorox in a spray bottle

• Do not cut wires or stakes

• Leave extra canes or spurs, double prune, insurance

• Tendrils – cut now or later

• Old ties and junk on the trellis

• Mark vines that need to be revisited

• To tie or not to tie . . .

Classic head training with cane pruning

2 cane, no renewal

pruning at Karamoor

Vineyard

Cane vs. Spur Pruning?

Spur: traditional in warm areas

• Easier?

• Faster?

• Less labor – no tying

• More uniform shoot growth

across a longer vine spacing

• Double pruning for frost

avoidance

• Easier to mechanize and pre-

prune

Cane: traditional in cool areas

• Fewer pruning cuts

• Better bud fertility

• Less shoot thinning

• Don’t have to renew spur positions

• Less permanent wood, possibly less

disease pressure and fewer problems

with trunk diseases

• Less perennial wood may reduce

overall vine vigor

Antinori in Tuscany

New and Young Vine Pruning and Training

It’s all about…

• root development and establishment

• developing permanent vine superstructure

• a straight trunk(s) and well-established cordon arms

• One or two trunks?

• the right vine spacing to achieve a balanced vine

• …are you going to crop in 2nd or 3rd year?

• relative vine vigor

• How low to go? 2 bud, half-way, fruit wire?

Pruner’s Worst Enemy: Winter Injury

Winter and Frost Injury to Vines

• Information resources

– Bob Pool’s web site:

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/pool/GrapePagesIndex.html

– Winter Injury and Methods of Protection. Zabadal, et. al.

• Prune according to cold hardiness of varieties and value

– Native > white hybrid > red hybrid > white vinifera > red vinifera

• Double prune vines

• Assessing bud and vine damage

• Leave extra buds – long spurs or extra canes

• Do extra trunks help?

• Keep your vines in balance and in good health

• Site selection: wet and cool soils

Pulling Brush

• Removing 90+ percent of previous year’s growth

• Teams of 2 – one cut, one pull and switch

• Cut tendrils and remove brush

• Pull down and away on VSP

• Safety glasses

• Pull into every other row

• Remove or burn in place or chop?

– Disease

– fertilizer

Brush Disposal/Sanitation

• Burn in or out of vineyard

• Chop it

• Fungal diseases

Tying and Training Vines

• Use the right tying material

– Agtyes for trunks and cordons

– Tytape for canes and shoots

– Bread ties for fruiting canes

• Timing: when the sap flows but well before bud break

• Cracking cold weather canes

• Leave extra nodes then prune to correct length

• Do not over-wrap canes on fruiting wire

• Tie off the ends securely, leave 6-8” between canes or cordons

• Kicker canes

Trellis and Training Systems for Wine Grapes

• Single, vertical canopy

– Vertical Shoot Position

– High wire cane or cordon (hanging

• Divided vertical canopies

– Scott Henry

– Smart-Dyson

• Divided horizontal canopies

– Geneva Double Curtain

– Lyre

Head Trained –Spur Pruned Vines

High wire cane system in Oregon

Vertically divided Scott Henry at Paradocx Vineyard in Chester County

Smart-Dyson

Training at

Mica Ridge

in Chester

County

Lyre Trained Vines

At Horton Vineyards

In Virginia

Invented by Dr. Nelson Shaulis

at Cornell University

Great shoot positioning on GDC

at Chrysalis Vineyard in Virginia

Cane and spur pruning videos for Oregon State University

http://wine.oregonstate.edu/vineyard

Start by reading then ….

…learn by doing !!!

• Get a job or volunteer at a good vineyard

• Find someone knowledgeable to train you

• Don’t pick up bad habits

• Practice (preferably on someone else’s vines)

• Understand the principles and practices

• Do it right from the start: vine training and pruning

• Visit vineyards in the winter and summer and observe, remember and learn

• Ask good questions

If your vines look like this it’s time for a career change!

Mark L. Chien

Viticulture Educator

Penn State Cooperative Extension

Lancaster, PA

http://pawinegrape.com/

Any Questions??