There are a lot of great backyard vegetable patches around producing some awesome tasting home-grown vegetables. While nothing comes close to the taste home grown tomatoes, for some reason home grown grapes generally do not produce a comparable level in terms of quality and abundance. A lot of this has to do with the grape vine pruning techniques used.
It is not that grapes are any harder to grow than tomatoes but grapes do need special attention and, because tomatoes are seasonal and grapes vines perennial, there are differences in approach. One of the key differences lies in the exacting techniques involved in grape vine pruning. For more information please visit my site
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In the backyard, the grape vine is usually planted as a hopeful addition or afterthought and, while it may get some pruning, it doesn’t get the same level of careful attention given to the tomatoes and other vegetables.
The first and most important consideration is to decide, in advance, where, what shape and how much grape vine you want in your backyard. Do not just stick a grape vine against a fence and let it decide where it is going to grow. Plant it in a good spot then train the vine into the size and shape that you want.
Once you have selected the location and have an idea of the size and shape your grape vine can occupy in the back yard the next thing is to set up a framework for managing and directing the growth. I personally like the overhead trellis for a number of reasons. You can use a trellis as a garden feature and with a grape vine; provide shade in summer and sunlight in winter. The link below also has information on building a trellis. You can set your grapes against a fence, espalier them to a wall, run them up a solid wire pyramid, or use any number of frameworks. One thing you have to remember is that your grape vine is not seasonal so choose your site carefully – it will be there for a long time.
Once you have the location and the growing frame in place the next challenge is to use grape vine pruning techniques to direct and manage the direction and shape of your grape vine. Play around with this on paper. Do some rough sketches of how you would like your grape vine to feature in your backyard. The first decision is the height at which to split the laterals and change the direction of growth from vertical to horizontal.
Don’t necessarily take your grape vine pruning lead from the vineyards. The preferred height for agricultural grape growing has more to do with management and commercial harvesting requirements, human height, machine design and so on, than any preference the grape vine has.
Grape vines just like to grow and, in general, plants are user friendly and you can get them to do what you want. So grow it up the trellis and use the space to pack performance. Sometimes the way to get plants to cooperate is to be firm to the point of being rough. If you want four vines on your trellis, grow 8 or 12 cuttings, plant 2 or 3 in each spot, then rip out the stragglers.
Grape vine pruning is one of the key skills required to consistently produce great harvests. The techniques are not hard but they are exacting and timing can be important. Getting the underlying plant structure requires careful pruning during the first few years. After the plant structure has been set in place, the grape vine pruning focus shifts to getting the best harvest possible..
The techniques for grape vine pruning differ from pruning techniques used in general gardening and most gardening books do not give special attention to the grape vine. If you read up on rose pruning, and then grab your secateurs and attack your grape vine, don’t be surprised if your roses look fantastic but your the grape yield is significantly down.
The steps for grape vine pruning are simple, straight forward and easy to illustrate using simple diagrams that are not usually included in general gardening books. I cannot put diagrams in this article but I can tell where I go for my information. I have a lot of gardening books but my favourite source for all things grape is “How to Grow Grapes” by Danny Wuim. I don’t know what Danny’s roses are like his grapes are fantastic. Anyone who can pull 42 pounds of grapes from a single vine knows what he is doing! For more information please visit my site
Patio Projects.
