Pruning grape vines

[tenniswitch]

We have 3 varieties of table grapes: white, red and black.  The vines were planted a number of years ago by the previous owners.

I quite understand that grape vines should be pruned early in the year (when we are never here), but I do always cut them back when I get here in April.  This year I thought I'd cut them back quite hard, but, judging by the current growth, I didn't cut them back hard enough, and we have many more bunches of grapes than the vines can support (for max quality).

Can anyone give me a rule of thumb on what I should do now?  Just cut off a certain per cent of the clusters?  Cut back the vines, too?

It must be pretty clear that I am not a gardener and don't know much about growing grapes.  I've been trying to read up on the subject, but can only find info on the winter pruning, nothing about dealing with spring/summer overgrowth.

Any help will be most gratefully received.

 

[Tony F Dordogne]

If you want to improve the crop, do what the wine makers do, reduce the baby grapes to 3 or 4 embryonic bunches and let them come on naturally.  I wouldn't cut them back again now, far too late.  We've just done similar to our newer vines and did the same last year for an excellent crop.

[tenniswitch]

Sorry to be so stupid, but 3 or 4 bunches per....what?

[Tony F Dordogne]

Well, it depends on what you want and the size of the vines.  If the vines are small, just 3/4 bunches on the plant.  Remember they'll all ripen at more or less the same time so unless you're going to preserve them or eat them for every meal, that would probably last you around 3/4 weeks - per plant.  The addage of the wine makers, fewer bunches = better quality seems to be what is important if you want good table grapes.  If you want more than 3/4 bunches and have plenty of embryonic bunches, take off every other bunch.

If it's a huge vine, like the one we have over our terrace (here when we bought) we butcher that every February, right back to the main stems, so they look like 5 long, totally bare sticks.  This time of year we take off between 30/35 kilos of embronic bunches, that's from nothing in  February and just leave about 30 round the perimiter of the vine, where we can get to them easily in the autumn when they're ripe.  But the vine is at least 20 years old.

[Dog]

At this time of year trim of all the 'shooters' those great long new growth shoots.

Keep the grapes shaded with its own leaves until you want to ripen them.

[tenniswitch]

Okay, thanks, guys.

Our vines are old and large, and I thought I had butchered them in April (along the lines of Tony's), but evidently I didn't go far enough.

I have been cutting off some of the shooters, will set out again and take more off and start cutting off grape clusters (we must have more than 100).