Grape Vines for an Arbor.
How shall I prune grape vines, viz: Tokay, Black Cornichon, Muscat,
Thompson Seedless, Rose of Peru, planted for a grape arbor?
You can grow all the vines you mention with high stumps reaching part
way or to the top of the arbor as you desire side or top shade or both.
You can also grow them with permanent side branches on the side slats of
the arbor if you desire. Each winter pruning would consist in cutting
back all the previous summer's growth to a few buds from which new canes
will grow for shade or fruiting, or you can work on the renewal system,
keeping some of these canes long for quick foliage and more fruit
perhaps and cutting some of them short to grow new wood for the
following year's service, as they often do in growing Eastern grapes.
Pruning Old Vines.
I have some Muscat grape vines 30 years old. Can I chop off most of the
old wood with a hatchet and thereby bring them back to proper bearing?
Not with a hatchet. If the vines are worth keeping at all, they are
worth careful cutting with a saw and a painting of all cuts in large old
wood. If the vines have been neglected, you can saw away surplus prongs
or spurs, reserving four or five of the best placed and most vigorous,
and cut back the canes of last summer's growth to one, two or three
buds, according to the strength of the canes - the thicker the canes,
the more buds to be kept.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140