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So I pruned my grape tree to go up my Pergola and I'm going to admit first hand that I AM NO EXPERT on pruning anything. I'm also aware that single stem pruning for a grape tree will give it the feel of a trunk, well after further investigation of my grape tree it has 3 trunks coming out of the root area, and it makes me nervous to even begin to consider cutting it back to one now (when I add my additional 3 grape trees I will make sure it's a single stem/trunk setup).
Here is a few pictures of my work. I also noticed after checking a few of the end pieces of the vine that they was dry, but then some other cuts was nice and green. Should I prune back those brown spots to green?
Here's what it looked like before I started pruning.
I think it looks very good. For waht you are doing I am not so sure the three stems are not a good idea. You have enough area to cover and the extra stems will provide a more dense (shady) cover for you. For production, the solar exposure is important, but I think you still have enough space that you can have that.
has it grown to far past the point of creating a head? You think I should remove some of the last years growth that'll give me grapes? You think I should train only one? I'm nervous about cutting too much off, I read that it can negatively affect the plant if TOO much is cut off during the fall as it can allow mold to set where cuts were made. You think I should wrap last years shoots around the pole or grow them like they are now? I was thinking it'd be cool if they covered the poles completely as it would protect the poles from major uv's during the summer.
I don't have a single stem coming out of the ground I have 3... Which is causing my headaches now as I'm wondering if that's gonna hurt fruit production in the long run.... The first youtube video I saw the 2nd one I had not and it was very informative. I'm pretty happy with how it is right now, I'll wait a bit longer before deciding what to do as I am going to sleep haha. (Grave yard guy)
Needn't worry! If you make a mistake it will grow back!
I'd prune out the older of the three right down. It's easy to see which is the oldest vine due to the ex-foliating bark. If you dig down you may find the vine has rooted, if so you can cut it and plant on another post!
I see no problem training 2 vines up the post but one would be better!
Is it a bad idea to leave them? Or does it matter, I kinda like how it looks right now and it seems to me it'll have a nice full pergola, well roughly 1/4 full (which is what I'm going for. Cutting it back to a single stem and creating a head is cool though, but I'm wondering if it'll negatively affect grape production for this season.
The longer the vines, the smaller the fruit. But you're growing these vines more for shade than for high fruit production anyway right? Notice commercial grape fields the vines are less than 3 ft high in winter.
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