If you don’t already have a grapevine or cutting to plant, check local gardening centers or place an order online. These places also tend to carry twine, pruning shears, and other tools you need to train vines. Give the vine enough water to keep the soil moist about 1 in (2. 5 cm) deep. Grapevines don’t need a ton of water, and wet soil can damage them. Spur pruning is easier to do than cane training. It works best in warmer climates or areas that experience drought.
Remove any secondary branches while the stem grows to the height you desire. These extra branches take resources away from the main one and aren’t needed for training.
Flowers take a lot of resources to grow, and your vine isn’t ready to produce fruit yet. When you cut off the flowers, your vine grows faster and stronger.
For example, if you have several grapevines 8 ft (2. 4 m) apart, grow the horizontal branches to 4 ft (1. 2 m) in length. That way, both plants have plenty of room to spread out across the trellis.
Cut each side shoot down to leave about 4 buds on it. Buds look like small, round balls where a branch splits off into new growth. They almost look like grapes and are pretty easy to spot as you examine each cordon.
Always leave fresh renewal spurs on your vine. Without the spurs, the vine can’t produce new growth.
Grapes only grow on wood that has had a year of growth. Most people hesitate to prune their vines because they don’t like getting rid of all that old growth. The old growth is unnecessary, so heavy pruning is safe as long as you leave renewal spurs. Sometimes the cordons need to be replaced due to damage or disease. When this happens, select a new branch at the base of the cordon, grow it for a year, then remove the old cordon.
As the stem grows, tie it to the trellis to prevent it from falling over. The best time to tie new growth is in early spring, around March and April. Cane pruning starts out like spur pruning but is somewhat more difficult. It is often used in relatively colder regions like Burgundy, Sonoma, and Oregon. Frequent pruning means the branches suffer less frost damage.
Pinching off the vine forces it to expand horizontally instead of vertically.
The guyots are similar to cordons, so if you have experience growing one, you know how to grow the other. Space out your vines so they have plenty of room to spread along the trellis. Pinch the ends off the guyots as needed to prevent them from overgrowing.
Choose new shoots every year to serve as replacement spurs. Let them grow out during the season so they produce fruit the next year.
These canes are replacement guyots. You need a single cane for each side of the trellis. The canes produce new growth and grapes during the next growing season.
You grow these replacement spurs to become replacement guyots next season. They sprout plenty of branches, giving you the ability to choose the strongest ones to become your next guyots.
Cane pruning is about removing the old branches every year to make room for new growth. This includes the original guyots, so remember to cut them away too. Leave behind the new canes, including the replacement spurs, to keep your vines healthy.
Some common grapes that grow well on a high cordon include Chambourcin, Chardonel, and Seyval Blanc.
Some varieties that grow well on low cordons include Chelois, St. Vincent, and Vignoles. To create a low cordon, try stringing another wire horizontally every 1 ft (0. 30 m) between the top and bottom wires. Tie the new shoots to the wires as they grow upward. This prevents them from drooping or breaking.
Bilateral systems are a great way to spread out multiple vines on a trellis. Decide how far you want each vine to grow, then pinch off the end of it to prevent it from growing past that point. An alternative is to grow the vine unilaterally, or in a single direction. This can be useful if your vine is at the end of a trellis or you don’t have space to let it spread. Raise the vine as you normally would, but keep only a single cordon or guyot.
Repeat selecting and pruning canes every year. Try to choose 3 to 4 fresh branches from the renewal spurs each year and remove the rest. After a few years, you may be able to grow 6 to 8 branches at a time. Fan training gets its name because the few branches you grow each year spread out into a fan-like shape. It’s a great way to protect damaged vines or varieties that naturally grow upright. It is similar to creating a low cordon, except you don’t grow cordons at all and have to prune all the shoots each year.
An arbor is like a trellis, but it’s a little harder to maintain. If you don’t prune the vines heavily every year, they overgrow, tangle up, and produce lower-quality grapes. Unlike with a regular trellis, you can’t let the vines grow very far horizontally or else they get tangled. Another option is to build a pergola. It is similar to an arbor, except it is meant to be a structure for people to sit under.
