Grape vines require careful summer pruning and trimming to maximize their health and productivity While grape vines are generally low-maintenance, proper pruning encourages higher yields and prevents overgrowth issues In this beginner’s guide, we’ll cover when and how to trim your grape vines during the summer growing season.
Why Summer Trimming is Essential
Grape vines undergo rapid growth in summer. This is when they need strategic trimming to:
- Control their vigorous growth habit
- Improve air circulation and light exposure
- Stimulate the development of fruitful shoots for next year’s crop
- Remove unproductive shoots that waste energy
- Maintain ideal spacing between shoots
- Manage overall vine size and shape
Summer pruning encourages vines to focus their energy on developing strong, healthy shoots and high-quality grapes rather than excess foliage and fruitless shoots.
When to Trim Grape Vines in Summer
Time your summer grape vine pruning
- After fruit set when grapes start forming. This avoids accidentally removing fruitful shoots.
- Before shoots become overly hardened. New green shoots trim easier than stiff, woody branches.
- Approximately mid-summer, though timing varies by grape variety and climate. Trim just after the major burst of early summer growth.
Trimming too early can reduce yields. Pruning too late won’t properly control growth before vines go dormant. Mid-summer is ideal in most regions.
Supplies Needed for Trimming Grape Vines
Having the right pruning tools makes summer trimming easier and more efficient:
- Hand pruners – For cutting smaller shoots and bonds
- Loppers – For thicker shoots up to half inch diameter
- Pruning saw – For large branches over half inch diameter
- Pole pruners – For hard to reach areas high on vines
- Disinfectant – For sanitizing tools between vines to prevent disease spread
Keep tools cleaned and sanitized while pruning. Sharp, high-quality pruners and saws make clean cuts that heal quickly.
How to Trim Grape Vines Step-By-Step
Follow these summer pruning steps for table, wine, and muscadine grape vines:
Remove Unproductive Shoots
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Identify and remove all shoots that are dead, damaged, or not producing fruit. Cut them back to their source.
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Prioritize removing shoots growing toward the grape vine interior. Retain outward-facing shoots that receive more light.
Space Productive Shoots
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Leave about 6-8 productive fruiting shoots per foot of canopy. Remove excess shoots.
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Space shoots about 4-6 inches apart to allow air circulation, light penetration, and spray coverage.
Shorten Extra-Long Shoots
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Retain healthy shoots with clusters, but shorten ones that are overly long and vigorous.
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Cut rambunctious shoots back to an upward facing bud around 6 leaves past the last flower cluster.
Clear Around Grape Clusters
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Snip away leaves surrounding grape clusters to improve fruit exposure. Take care to avoid damaging fruit.
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Remove just 1-2 leaves on either side of clusters. Avoid over-thinning leaves.
Prune Suckers and Waterspouts
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Completely remove all thin, vigorous shoots emerging from the trunks or root system.
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Removing suckers and waterspouts prevents them from robbing energy from fruitful vines.
Shape as Needed
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Lightly trim back the canopy periphery to contain vine size and shape growth.
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Take care not to remove too much foliage which can sunburn grapes.
Special Summer Care for Young Grape Vines
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For the first 2-3 years, prune young vines lightly to promote vegetative growth over fruit production.
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Remove just a few thin shoots emerging inside the canopy or with no flower clusters. Avoid heavy pruning.
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Allow young vines to develop their structure and vigor before fruiting. Resist taking much fruit the first seasons.
Finish Up
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Disinfect pruners between vines to prevent disease transmission.
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Remove pruned shoots from the area or shred them to prevent pest/disease carryover.
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Water vines well after pruning to aid recovery.
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Admiral overall vine shape and remove any remaining errant branches.
Avoiding Common Summer Pruning Mistakes
Some common grape vine pruning errors to avoid:
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Pruning too early before fruit set risk removing productive shoots. Wait for tiny grape clusters to emerge.
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Trimming too late in summer when branches are woody and stiff. Time it just after the major spring growth spurt.
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Over-pruning leaves around grape clusters. Leave 1-2 leaves to protect developing grapes from sunburn.
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Not removing waterspouts and suckers which divert energy from fruiting vines.
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Failure to sanitize pruning tools between vines spreads fungal infections like black knot disease.
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Allowing cut shoots to remain on the ground. Remove them or shred them to prevent pest issues.
The Takeaway: Summer Pruning Benefits Grape Vines
Summer pruning may seem counterintuitive since it involves removing leaves and shoots. But careful trimming optimizes grape yields, health, and quality. Growth needs contained at precisely the right time to enhance fruit production. Annual summer pruning improves grape clusters access to light, air flow, and spray penetration. It also reins in excess growth and improves future yields by properly spacing and positioning shoots. With this beginner’s guide, you’ll be ready to skillfully trim your grape vines in summer for a bountiful harvest!
Starting Young Plants Off Right
When you get your new grape plant, it probably hasn’t been pruned yet. Instead, it will have strong roots and a lot of bare shoots coming out of the top. When it’s time to plant in the spring, you should cut these many shoots down to one and three buds (Step 1). After planting, the vine will begin to grow, and push out new green shoots. When these shoots are 8 to 12 inches long, pick the best one and tie it to a stake at both the top and bottom. Look for a strong-growing shoot that comes straight from the old stem and is almost vertical. This shoot should not come from the underground root system. Remove the other shoots (Step 2).
As the shoot grows in its first summer, keep tying it to the stake to keep it straight and stop it from breaking in the wind. It’s best to keep this shoot as straight and upright as possible because it will be the vine’s permanent trunk.
During its first season of growth, your first-year vine should have reached or been above the first trellis wire (about 30 inches). If it hasn’t, cut it back again to 3 buds, and repeat the previous year’s treatment. This may seem drastic, but necessary to establish a sound trunk. Most plants are vigorous and will reach the wire easily. Cut the last year’s shoot at the first bud above the wire if it just touches or goes a few inches past it. Then tie the shoot to the stake and the wire (A). For longer shoots, tie them to the stake and wire, cut the vine four or five buds past the tie, and bend the rest of the shoot down to the wire and tie it (B). Very vigorous shoots may go well above the wire and put out strong side laterals. Pick the two long stems that are closest to the wire, tie them to it, and cut them back to three to five buds. Tie the main stem to the wire and stake, and cut just above the side laterals (C).
During the summer, train the new shoots to grow to the next wire and cut off any that grow from the trunk or roots.
Grapes bear fruit on the green shoots that arise from one-year-old canes. Pruning is based on producing fruit in the current season, and renewing young canes for the next year. The old canes that produced fruit this season will not produce again. There are several methods used in pruning established grapevines. In places like ours where heat units aren’t very high and strong vines can shade the fruit, cane pruning is the normal method. In this method, a permanent trunk is set up, and each year, new canes are chosen from the vine’s head, where the trunk and wire meet. One or two canes on each side, each 8–10 buds long, are chosen and tied to the wire. The rest of the canes are cut off. Pick canes that are about the thickness of your little finger, stick out as close to your head as possible, and have buds that are close to each other. Try to avoid large thick canes with buds spaced far apart. Also leave one or two spur canes, cut to two buds each. They will provide additional canes to select from for the next year’s pruning.
Knifen pruning is like cane pruning, but the main trunk has two levels: one at the lower wire height and another about 30 inches above it. Since our climate makes the upper level shoots too strong, they shade out the lower level too often, the kniffen system isn’t used very often. The third method sometimes used is the cordon system. Some types of wine grapes grow better when trained in this way, but American types like Concord should not be trained in this way. In the second season, one cane is trained to each side of the trunk. These canes become permanent arms that stay in place as the base on which short spurs grow each year to make new fruiting canes. These spurs are two or three buds long. Sometimes you have to cut back old spurs that have grown too long when you prune a cordon-trained vine. Pick the cane that is closest to the rod and cut it into two buds. Then, cut off the rest of the old spur.
J. King, WSU – Mount Vernon
It can be scary for both new and experienced pruners to stand in front of a bunch of tangled grape vines and not know what to do with them. Keep in mind two essential ideas:
- Don’t be afraid to cut. There will be about 90% less growth this year than last when you’re done.
- Grape plants are vigorous, and forgiving. You can fix any mistakes you make next year.
With that said, you can approach your pruning in a spirit of learning and adventure, not panic. If you prune your grapes too early, a hard frost in late winter can damage the canes and buds. The best time to prune is in the spring, in February or March, or even as late as early April.
How to Prune Grapes — Summer
How do you prune a grape vine in summer?
Yet, it pays to try and make sense of it all, without making random cuts. If there are shoots not bearing any fruit this season, clip them back to the thickest part of the vine. At this time of summer pruning you can also eliminate the smallest bunches of grapes, the ones with 5 or 6 individual pieces of fruit.
How do you cut back a grape vine?
Locate a long vine that sticks out past a bunch of grapes and cut it back so that one set of leaves are just covering the bunch. Step 2 Be thorough in your pruning, reaching through the trellis to clip back non-producing vines. These are water shoots that extend from the framework of the grape vine.
Do grapes need a winter pruning?
Of course, hands-on experience will mean all the world to you and the health of your grapes. So, grab your pruners, get under those hanging vines and start clipping away. Most people know that a good winter pruning of grapes, while the vines are fully dormant, is in order. Has anyone ever told you that grapes need summer maintenance too?
Do grapevines need to be pruned in summer?
Naturally, summer pruning of grapevines implies that your vines are mature enough to produce large bunches of fruit. And it should be noted that summer pruning is not a one-off event. In fact, it can be done multiple times throughout the season, first after flowering, then as necessary to thin the crown. Step 1