Subject: Re: Advice sought: pruning neglected grape vines
Date: 17 Feb 92 02:36:43 GMT

> They need to be pruned, I assummed, since they are pretty tangled, as
> well as growing into the neighboring trees! Some of the vines have
> some reddish thingies that may well be new growth, so I'm wondering
> about pruning them this season or waiting till the
> dormant-but-not-before-the-dead-of-winter advice I got from one book.
> Any opining types out there? (c'mon Kay Klier, you've come to my
> rescue every other time! :)

If your grapes are really neglected, you may need to spread the job over
several years.  I personally wouldn't remove more than 1/2 the topgrowth
of a grape in one year.

Start by finding the main trunk (no small feat sometimes), then trimming
off everything more than about 8 ft from the trunk.  Some canes may have
tip rooted in the soil: you can either dig them out or sever them from
the parent plant and have another grape.  If you haven't yet pruned a
frightening amount from the plant, go back to the central trunk and
count 6-10 _good_ branches up from the base.  Decide whether you can
take everything beyond those branches without killing the plant.  If
you can, do it.  If you can't, prune as far back from the tip as you
dare.

What you're aiming for is a decent central trunk with maybe 6 lateral canes
bearing 6-10 buds each.  It's going to take awhile to get there in most cases.

That first pruning, done in the winter (in your part of the world, probably
right now at the latest), will cause all sorts of new sprouts every which
way this summer.  Let the grape grow till June-ish, then start removing
any weak growth and anything that won't help you get back to the 6 lateral
canes.  Don't get too rabid on this, or you'll cost the plant too much
energy.  Better to pick off young sprouts than older growth.

You'll probably have to take a couple of years to get back to a good
"grape shape", with those 6 (or fewer) laterals (should be about the
thickness of pencils) trained along a horizontal support.  Anything else
is removed.  Treat the canes as biennials: they should grow one year,
produce the next, and be removed the following winter.  So when you
remove the 2nd year canes, you should also be training the replacement
canes out onto the supports.

Hope this helps.

Kay

[1] Re: Pruning roses for repeat bloom...
Date: Wed Apr 22 12:34:51 1992

This advice dates from 30 years ago or so, when I was "allowed" to help
keep my mother's rose garden tidy.  I don't go much for hybrid teas any
more, so there may be more modern advice you will get that is better.

>As I understand it, it is good to prune the flowers to encourage more
>growth and blooming.
>But when?
>    Should the flower be cut toward the beginning, middle, or end of the
>    bloom? Are any of these okay, so long as you don't leave it sit there
>    once the petals fall?

Any time is fine, so long as you cut before the hip (the part just below the
blossom) starts to swell.  If you cut toward the beginning or in the middle,
you can have bouquets in the house or at work.  If you want buds to bloom in
the house, wait to cut them until AFTER the first petal unfurls.

>And where?
>    Is there some particularly good spot to make the cut? My guess would be
>    to cut it just above (1/4 inch?) a leaf-joint on the stem, maybe 3 to 5
>    joints below the bloom. Is this right?

My mother told me to cut no closer to the cane than just above the third set
of leaflets above where the stem branches off the cane.  Let me try to illus-
trate:

        ##  \|/         \|/             \|/
        ##  \|/         \|/             \|/       o
        ##  \|/         \|/             \|/      oOo
        ##--------------------------------------oOOOo
        ##       /|\       ^    /|\ ^            oOo
        ##       /|\       |    /|\ |             o
      (cane)   (leaves)    |        |           (flower)
                        cut here or here

A new stem, with flower, will grow out of the leaf axil just below your cut.
So if your bush is sprawly and wide, cut above a leaf toward the inside of
the bush; if you want your bush to spread out a bit, cut above a leaf toward
the outside of the bush.

>And how?
>    I imagine you are supposed to cut the stem on a slant. But should
>    the longer side of the stem wind up on the joint side or the opposite
>    side?

Cut it on a slant; I don't think it matters which way it is.

Carrie