Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-22
GRAPE PRUNING.

The first really warm davs of
March start the sap flowing in the
grape and although it has never been
shown that later pruning IS positively
injurious, it goes without saving that
earlier pruning is better AS a matter
of fact the first favorable opportunity
should now be taken to get this i'm
portant work done. To be sure, grape
vines viii grow without pruning, but
soon become a tangled network and
as a result bear a great many under
sized, imperfect clusters Unpruned
vines generally fail to ripen their
fruit uniformly and green berries
will be found among the ripe. Worse
yet, unpruned vines soon develop the
habit of fuiting every other year,
taking a year to recover from over
bearing.
1t is quite impossible TO arbitrarily
set down the exact amount of wood
that should be removed from any
vine. In commercial vineyards, or
large home paintings where the vines
are grown on wire trellises and
trained according 10 an established
system such as that known as the
four-arm or Kniffen, in which two
upper and two lower branches or
canes are led off horizontally from
a single upright stem, pruning is com
paratively easy. In this case four
young canes starting from as near
the upright stem as possible are saved
each spring at pruning time. These
canes should be shortened to about
II buds each and all other canes re-
moved entirely Select those canes
of about the diameter Of a pencil, as
studies at the Maryland Experiment
Station and elsewhere have shown
that very thin and very thick canes
are not as productive The canes
left following pruning should be tied
loosely to the wires to prevent wind
injury to the expanding buds.
Pruning vines growing on over
.head arbors or trellises is much more
difficult. Here is combined the orna-
mental and the useful. One cannot,
in these cases, set down any definite
number of canes or of buds as a
working basis, but q great deal can
be done to improve the character Of
the fruit of such vines by selecting
strong vigorous new growths and
removing those which are spent. A
new cane starting from near the
ground should be encouraged so that
every few seasons the old stem may
be removed entirely. a COMPARE
lively few well distributed young
canes will serve as a basis for new
growth to cover the arbor. In fact,
eighteen inches or two feet between
canes Is not ADt AdF apart.
The pruning OF vines which have
not vet reached bearing age concerns
many home gardeners. Formerly it
was recommended 10 cut back young
plants at the beginning Of their
second and often the third growing
season to within two buds Of the
ground This procedure naturally de
layed the beginning Of bearing
Fortunately this rather drastic treat
SC
which have made a strong growth
In the case of one year old plants.
the strongest cane may be saved
cutting il off at about G feet or the
height of the upper tTeliS wire Under
favorable conditions this cane will
hear some fruit At all events It
will serve as a trunk Tor the vine
and will, if wen nourshed, yield con
siderable fruit long before the vines
cut back to the ground have reached
a similar condition
The grape vine responds better
than other fruit plants to pruning.
Photographs Of European and Of
California vineyards following prun-
ing show little more than short up
right stumps with a few short project
ing spurs at the top. Yet from such
vines come the fine clusters which
adorn our fruit markets in the
autumn Needless TO say, such dras-
III r,r,Infng would not do for the home
garden. but it is true thai great inn
movement in the quality Of the fruit
and size of clusters viii follow reason
shIv severe pruning. If large pro
ductfon Is the aim of the gardener,
II is far more practical TO grow sew
era1 plants properly than TO allow
one or more to fill the same space
without any control.