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Billy[_10_] · 08-07-2013, 01:29 AM posted to rec.gardens

In article ,
wrote:

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

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.
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