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

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.

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.


Anybody want to weigh in?

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

On Sun, 7 Jul 2013 13:11:15 -0700 (PDT), 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?

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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Z8I2WCLNk

On 7/7/2013 1:11 PM, 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


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.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

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.
--
Remember Rachel Corrie
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Welcome to the New America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA736oK9FPg