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2023 Grape Pruning Primer

Wednesday, March 15th, 2023

By: Maria Smith, HCS-OSU

It sure does feel like March Madness, especially with the recent arrival of Ohio’s infamous “second winter”. Thankfully, the cooldown from February’s warm, spring-inspired weather will help us keep the vines asleep a little bit longer. This cooldown should help us complete this most important dormant-season activity: pruning. As a follow up to last week's pruning workshop, let’s go down the reminders of when, what, and whys of pruning.

Why prune?

In young vines (< 3yo), pruning is intended to build the vine to conform to the intended training system. This means, selecting healthy wood for trunk and/or cordon establishment.

For mature vines (>3 yo), the main goal of pruning is to adjust the vine size and yield potential to produce a healthy crop in the upcoming season (i.e., create a balanced vine). For new grape growers, this seems dramatic, but in “normal” years, this means removing more than 90% of the 1 yo wood that is on the vine (Fig 1).

Figure 1. Vine before pruning (left) and after pruning (right). High wire, bilateral cordon-trained Vitis hybrid.

What to prune? Or how many buds to retain?

Normally, we suggest a method called “balanced pruning”, or retaining bud numbers according to vine size based on the pruning weight of 1-year-old canes.

Table 1. Balanced pruning formulas for different grape types. Adapted from Midwest Grape Production Guide. The formula follows the number of buds to leave for the 1 lb of pruning weight + the number for each additional lb of pruning weight.

Grape

Type

Pruning Formula

Cluster Thinning

American

30 + 10

No

French Hybrids

20 + 10

Yes

New Hybrids

20 + 20

No

Seedless Table

30 + 10

Yes

Vinifera

20 + 20

Yes / No

 

A general rule of thumb: this should equate to approximately 4-6 buds per foot of vine spacing (e.g., if the vine spacing is 5-8’, retain 20-50 buds per vine). *Note, buds on hybrid and Vinifera wine grape varieties are typically more fruitful on the basal nodes. Therefore, when retaining buds, it is often best to leave more 2-3 bud spurs instead of fewer, longer spurs. This is not the case with Concord, Niagara, and other American varieties where the most fruitful buds are nodes 3-6.

But winter 2022-2023 wasn’t “normal”. The Christmas Eve polar vortex may have caused significant bud injury to your vines, especially in the most cold-sensitive varieties or in the colder locations in the state (see: Pre-Christmas Freeze and Impact on Grapevines). In Ohio where we have a propensity for winter injury, it’s important to check your bud injury and adjust pruning accordingly to maintain cropping levels (Fig. 2, Table 2). At Wooster, we assess bud injury as a % of 100 buds (10-bud canes). This is performed by variety.

 

Figure 2. Assessing bud mortality by cross-sectioning buds using a sharp razor blade. Notice the alive (left) vs. dead (right) status of the primary buds in the figure above.  

Table 2: Adjusted pruning based on % bud mortality.

% Primary bud injury

Adjustment

0 to 14%

No adjustment needed

15 to 34%

Retain an extra 35% buds

35 to 50%

Retain an extra 50% buds

>50%

Minimal prune to 5-bud spurs

80 to 100%

Likely trunk damage, renew trunk by retraining suckers

 

Why minimal prune? Yes, it’s a pain to shoot thin, but what we have noticed is that hedge pruning can aid in maintaining yield levels despite extensive (70-80%) primary bud injury. We have observed in the past that the rates of bud injury tend to be higher on node positions in the middle and end of canes vs. towards the base of canes. This means that buds retained from minimal hedge-styled pruning tend to be more alive than leaving more buds through cane pruning modifications (e.g., double-wrapping canes, quad-cane pruning).

Wood quality. Healthy, sun-exposed, reddish-brown wood that is approximately ¼ to ½” in diameter is optimal (think: Sharpie™, Pencil, Pen; Figure 3). This wood will contain buds with better cold hardiness, higher fruitfulness, and have the carbohydrate availability to support the development of 2-3 shoots. AVOID: bull wood (large, vegetive wood > ½” in diameter) and weak (< ¼” diameter).

Figure 3. Healthy, optimal wood selection for spurs and trunk and cordon training

When to prune? We acknowledge that larger vineyards are time-constrained and likely begin pruning earlier in the winter. However, if possible, small vineyards should wait as long as possible into spring. This is to allow compensation in case of winter injury, but can also help stave off early bud break by suppressing the development of the most basal buds on the cane (explained in our 2019 OGEN article: Grapevine Dormant Pruning). If waiting is not possible, begin with the most cold hardy varieties first, then proceed to the most cold sensitive varieties last (note* If you’re growing cold hardy MN hybrids, prioritize the later breaking varieties like Frontenac to prune first and prune the most early bud break varieties prone to spring freeze like Marquette and La Crescent last).

Pruning should be completed by the beginning of bud swell. Although bud break timing depends on numerous factors, we typically see signs of bud swell in mid to late-April in Wooster (may be 2-3 weeks different in southern and northern parts of Ohio). If you are double or delayed pruning as a spring frost avoidance strategy, final pruning needs to be completed no later than 1” in apical shoot growth. This is to avoid potential yield losses associated with basal bud break delays.  

Posted In: Viticulture
Tags: pruning, 2023 season
March 15, 2023 - 12:25pm -- smith.12720@osu.edu