il Wed, 2 Mar 2005 10:09:26 -0500, "Ken Anderson" ha scritto:

"Suzanne D." wrote in message
....
from the base. I can't seem to find any info on pruning grapes that have
such long trunks.

Any information or web sites would be greatly appreciated.
--Suzanne


See if rec.crafts.winemaking can be of help.

Wouldn't they be too merry to see the buds? ;-)

I'm not sure you could prune it in one go, but if it is heavily
pruned at the ends, that tends to reduce 'apical dominance' and
encourage buds from lower down to break forth. But it may be too late
for that kind of pruning up north anyway. Basically you leave 2 buds
along last year's growth and prune the rest then in spring/summer
when you've got a bunch of grapes prune about 2 0r 3 leaves past
that. Oh and rub out the ones that insist on growing between leaves
and stem. Those are the pesky ones because they're like triffids.

You could start by pruning any branch that is totally not what you
want. My book talks about having 6 leaders and replacing one a year
and letting a new one grow instead, so slowly but consistently you
could prune it to what you want. I mean you may decide that one year
without grapes is fine. But you wouldn't want to prune it so much it
decided it was easier to die that send out new buds. I guess the rule
of thumb is, the more severe the prune, the longer it takes to get
back to normal. And some plants handle it better than others.

Anyway I found this cheery site that may give you the confidence to
hack at ii: http://mtvernon.wsu.edu/frt_hort/gra...ing_basics.htm
--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]