prunning new vines

[Vinniemac]

Last spring I planted Marquette,Concord,Catawba Valvin Muscat and a few table grapes. They all did very well and reached the top wire except the Valvin Muscat. My question is should I prune them all the way back to 2 or 3 buds from the ground this Spring and should I be doing that now. First time grape grower.
Thanks in advance for your help. Vinnie

 

[grapeman]

It may be a little early for you to prune there as we may still get some more extreme cold, especially this weekend. I would wait a month or so where you are.

There are a number of things to consider when deciding how far to prune back. How uniform are the different vines of the same variety? If they are all the same size and a pencil size at the top wire you could cut back to just a hair above the wire so you can tie them there (assuming you go with Top Wire Cordon). That way you can form the cordons this year. If they are all different sizes and small, cut them back to 2-3 buds. They will develop more uniformly that way. The vines are very forgiving and will usually do pretty well in spite of us.

 

[padolin]

I am also growing valvin muscats. They are a mid- wire cordon vine, meaning that they will not grow as vigourous as a top wire cordon vine. Mine are second going on third year vines, i would prune them to the mid-wire and let them do their thing.

 

[Vinniemac]

I would like to post some pictures but I don't know how. I got them down loaded from my phone to my computer. But from there I'm lost. Can someone help? After checking my vines again it looks like I'll be pruning them back to 2 or 3 buds
Vinnie

 

[grapeman]

Below the box too post you should have a manage attachments button. Click it and a box will popup where you can hit browse to find the file on you computer. Once it is selected you can go down one space and do it again. When done ueue with post.selecting them go to the bottom and hit upload. That will upload them into the post. Then just close window and continue with post.

 

[Vinniemac]

I must have the pictures in the wrong format on my computer. I followed your instructions but when I uploaded the pictures it upload the number of the picture but not the pictures. I'm not very good with computers
Vinnie

 

[Vinniemac]

Valvin Muscat Vine

 

[Vinniemac]

[/ATTACH] These are the maquette vines

 

[Vinniemac]

I got the pictures up The 1st picture is a valvin muscat. 2nd & 3rd pictures are Marquette they did not do all the same as you can see. 4th picture are a assortment of table grapes. The 5th picture is a Catawba. I have some more beds prepared I'm going to plant 20 more Marquette vines this spring.

 

[grapeman]

The Muscat are struggling and should be cut back- just don't cut all the way to the graft. Leave a bit of wood if you can with a few buds on it. The Marquette you can work with. I would trim back to one or two trunks per vine. Even if a hair under the pencil size they look like they have proper spaced nodes. Trim the side shoots off to the main cane (leave a bump and bud but not an inch long stub). As they come out of dormancy in the spring and are not as brittle, I would tie them to the bamboo stakes more to try and straighten them up some. Marquette's don't get thick trunks like some so don't worry if they seem a bit thin now.

The table grapes need to grow some more so cut them back some trying to get a better trunk going. The Catawba has nodes a bit far apart but not too bad. If it is anywhere near as cold there as here, you will probably lose some of the buds so I would wait to prune them till last in the very early spring when you see what lived.

 

[Vinniemac]

Thanks for your advice. the winters here are unpredictable last year was very cold. This year its been up and down. I was outside today cleaning up ice from my driveway its 42 degrees there predicting 1 degree tomorrow morning. That's why I chose Marquette Vines With my lack of experience I thought I would have a better chance. I lost a lot blackberries last year because of the cold. I'll be taking your advice on pruning. I'll try and keep you posted through the year. Again thanks for your help
Vinnie

 

[Vinniemac]

Do I need to apply any fertilizer in the spring
Vince

 

[grapeman]

A soil test would help determine that, but with the moderate vigor you have a bit of something like 10-10-10 would not hurt. Apply about a cup per vine spread at least a foot away from the trunk. I put on by hand and sort of broadcast it as much as I can but direct around the vine to spread it out.