I’m looking for some help pruning a grapevine. I have watched videos and looked at diagrams and it never translates to what I see. Attached are some pics. It is a reliance grape. I plan to affix to the stakes and maybe put a cross member on. I think I have one came spur pruned and one cane pruned at the moment. This si be the first year allowing it to fruit and 3rd growing season (not counting first because of limited growth). Am I on the right track or should I have cut the longer came to 2 nodes? I have gotten good advice previously from fruitnut and others. I can’t install a trellis easily here. The first pic a more recent while the others are right after pruning
That will work this yr. You’ve pruned off a lot and that’s the most important thing at this point. Going forward you can try spur, cane, or a combination and see what works best.
The most important thing right now is enough support for canes and fruit. With wind, rain, and weight of fruit you may need more than current setup. Then again that looks pretty sturdy.
Couldn’t that fence be used to train them out on fruitnut? That I think would be pretty sweet looking when in leaf. I trained mine out on a chain link fence here and it seems to work pretty well. Though I cannot tell which way is South, but it looks like some time elapsed between pic#1 and #2 based on the shadow angle.
It would be growing on the northeast side of the fence so more limited sun. Also, the trunk is about 6 feet from the fence. I guess I could train a cordon all the way down and across the fence. Also, I think it was about a month between pictures one and two…they uploaded in wrong order.
The growth has exploded on this vibe and there are easily 20-30 tiny what I think are grape clusters. Should I prune any to leave less on here? This is a 4th year plant. Also, I am seeing lots of Ants on the branches, is that a sign of some other concern?
The guideline I have seen all relate to how many buds to leave on canes not specifically fruit clusters. Most of the guides also indicate that you may need to thin clusters but I am not sure the basis to use.
I’m not a grape guy but there are tons of vids on youtube including berry thinning as Redsun alluded to. A lot of these vids are made by guys/gals who very clearly know and understand proper grape growing.
