Trellising and Pruning Vines

Starting your own little vineyard can be very gratifying. We'll discuss how to trellis, train and prune your vines for the most bountiful harvests for years to come. It does take some time to get your vines up to the trellis, trained onto the wire, then pruned, but it is well worth the effort and wait. Grapes were one of the very first fruit bearing plants we put on our own little homestead and, to this day, are so very glad we did.

Before you have a trellis up, mark out where you want to plant your vines. This will help you determine the size and placement of your trellis.

We recommend at least 10 ft between each plant. Remember to check whether your vine is self fruitful or whether it needs a second variety as a pollinator. Plants that need a pollinator will benefit from being closer to a self fruitful variety. We alternated our vines to have self fruitful varieties on the ends and in the center of our trellis with a non-self fruitful variety smashed in-between with five varieties on each trellis. Check out how to build a trellis here.

Once your trellis has been built, you can move on to planting your vines where you marked. Use a mix of soil and plant compost, peat moss, or soil and coconut coir to plant your vines. Mulch to deter weeds, retain moisture and add beneficial nutrients over time. We used a dump truck of large pine bark to mulch under the vines and it has done well for us only needing to be topped off after about 8-10years. Water your vines weekly until they are well established.

To train your vines to the trellis, tie a string from one side of your trellis to the other. Tie another string in the center of each side and bring it down to where your freshly planted vine is. Tie the string off at the base of the plant using a stake. We don't recommend tying the string around the vine as it can constrict the vine if it's not removed or loosened in time.

Trim the vine down to one central leader. Secure the vine to the string using plant ties. Allow the vine to grow vertically this way for the first year of growth. Pruning off lateral growth throughout the year will encourage vertical growth.

Once the vine reaches to the top of the vertical string (this can happen in the first or second year of growth), prune off the top of the vine. This vertical growth will be the vines trunk. Topping the vine will then encourage lateral growth, which will become the cordons.

Choose the two top most growths and train these to grow in opposite directions along the lateral sting attaching one side of the trellis wire to the other. You want one vine branch reaching for one wire and the other reaching for the opposite wire. It'll start to resemble the "T" of your trellis supports. (If you are growing your vines along a fence line or something similar, your pruned and trained vine will resemble a "T" and you don't need to continue training until the following year when you are pruning spurs.)

When the vines reach the end of the string and meet the wire, you'll once again prune off the ends to encourage more lateral growth(usually in year two or three). Choose the two best vine branches on either side to grow in opposite directions along the wire on each side. This is where your vines start to take on the "H" shape from a birds eye view. The vines will tightly wrap the support wire and you may need to unwind the vine as it grows and re wrap it around the wire in a looser wrap. this prevents the vine from subsuming the support wire which can lead to issues down the road.

All the while, you'll need to prune off any growth that does not adhere to the form of the trellis, allowing the plant to put most of its energy into the purposeful growth you need. If you allow the vines to take over then your harvest will not only be difficult, but yields will be much lower too.

In the third or fourth year, once the vines have grown along the support wire, you can FINALLY let the vines produce growth and set fruit. Allow the small branches produced from your main "H" to grow and set fruit. The following winter we will trim those branches back which will begin the process of creating crowns.

The first year or two of producing fruit, your yields will be a little lower. Consecutive years, with proper pruning, your fruit yields should increase and then level out.

Yearly Maintenance

Each year, towards the end of winter, while the vines are still dormant, The hard work really begins. We usually set aside a whole day just to prune, untangle, and burn our muscadine vines. If the pruned vines aren't burned, they readily take root wherever they land, whether it's in the middle of the yard or in the compost pile.

The first year of growth, after the vines have been trellised, several branches will have grown all along your main vine. In the winter we will be pruning these down to one for every four inches or so to start. We will also be cutting those offshoot branches back to about 3 buds away from the main vine typically this is about 2-3in. This will form the base of the crown that will grow all the fruit for consecutive years. Keep in mind how the vines will grow out of this crown each year. Crowns that naturally point outward and slightly down will be best to make future harvests easy. The following year, the vines or spurs will grow out from the crown that you are beginning to establish. Each year moving forward, you'll be pruning the newest growth back leaving two or three nodes of this years growth to add to the existing crown. As the crowns mature they will grow in size and you may need to thin out old crowns as they develop. Try to space each crown far enough apart to allow plenty of room for the vines and fruit to develop, usually 6-8 inches once established. Try to keep your crowns growing in an open habit this will make it easier for future growth to be added. If the crowns become to knobby or difficult to work you may have to cut it back significantly and start that one over.

Once your vines are established you will start the pruning process with a giant mess of vines. I typically run a hedger down about one foot away from my support wires and main cordon on all sides. Then I take my pruning sheers and get down to the main cordon and crowns. It might seem like you are taking off a ton of vines and new growth, but this is normal. Even if you take off too much (which is unlikely) remember that most vines are very vigorous and will grow back very quickly. Just enjoy being out in the sunshine and tending to your garden, vineyard, or food forest. You'll get the knack of it in no time. Once this is done you'll be exhausted and tired of looking at sticks. At this point I recommend coming back tomorrow to do the next part because its important and we don't want to rush it.

What we are looking for now are the little tendrils that the vines use to grasp as they grow. These little tendrils often grasp the vine itself and as the vines develop they become woody and don't continue to grow with the rest of the vine. The vine that is caught in the clutches of itself continues to grow and can eventually pinch off the sap supply killing the branch or crown beyond. All we need to do is go down checking for these little stinkers and pry them off with your thumb or a flat head screwdriver (we don't want to use anything sharp to avoid damaging the vine more than necessary.) This may leave some scarring behind but this will typically heal within a season.

Now you are done! Once the vines wake up give them a good dose of fertilizer and again after the harvest season is over. Grapes are truly an amazing addition to the homestead. Requiring patience and some dedication to get started. Once established they need a day or two of attention to ensure that the harvest is bountiful. I hope this helps and if you have any questions please reach out were happy to help.