Hello,
I'm growing grapes. Several websites advise me to prune leaves from the grapevine, in order to produce more grapes. I'm not interested in more grapes; I want better grapes. My naive guess is that more leaves produce more sugar and sweeter fruit.
Anybody want to weigh in?
Thank you,
Ted Shoemaker
which websites?
it is important to know what type of grape vine you have, what kind of grapes you desire, if you are growing wine grapes, etc.
doesn't make any sense to me and i've not ever read of this in any of my readings. i'd only prune leaves off if they are diseased or i wanted some for making stuffed grape leaves.
thinning grape bunches and pruning vines properly or even removing bunches of grapes are all useful techniques for various types of grapes, conditions and different desired results. these sound different than what you are talking about tho...
songbird
Grapes benefit greatly from severe pruning... once grapes begin to form remove fully 1/3 of the vine by weight... theo when when leaves begin to shrivel remove all growth past the current year's bud.
I have three grape vines, all table (not wine) grapes. They produce very good grapes, sweet and flavorful. One vine last year filled a 5 gallon pail in a single picking. Another vine cannot be used for grape juice; the grapes are so sweet that the juice tastes as if someone poured a sack of sugar into it.
In the winter (we don't get snow), I prune them to control their growth. In the spring and early summer, I carefully trim some side shoots and tie the rest to their support wire. My goal is to prevent long shoots from touching the ground.
No, I do not thin the leaves or the fruit. I did thin the fruit the first year they had any, to protect the vines from overtaxing their relatively new roots; but I do not do that now.
They get fed once a year, in March or April. They get irrigated once every three weeks, very deeply.
In a week or so, I will again be harvesting grapes.
You are right. The leaves are the motor that makes the vine grow.
The only reason to prune leaves from grapes is to allow more sun and air to penetrate the vine. This is important in damp weather/cool weather.
To improve the quality of the grapes, you need to cluster thin (remove
25% - 50% of the fruit clusters). This will also cause the grapes to ripen earlier. It is best done before the grapes change color, but the earlier the better so that you don't put plant energy into fruit that you are going to remove anyway.HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.