Pruning greenhouse grape

john.Chapling · May 2019

Hiya, my black Hamburg has burst into life and gone mad with (too) many shoots but not sure what should be pruned and how many shoots should be left, grateful for any advise please, thanks.

steephill · May 2019

A lot depends on the current structure - is it already trained by the spur and rod method for example. General maintenance pruning would involve pruning non-fruiting shoots back to five leaves and fruiting shoots at two leaves beyond the fruit bunch. For the best fruit restrict it to one or two bunches per shoot. I would wait a few weeks yet before doing any of this though.

mrtjforman · May 2019

i'm never too sure when to prune or how much but I am pretty sure this is the worst time of year for it. I think one is meant to cut 2/3 of new growth produced that year in autumn right after harvesting the grapes.
I've not pruned my grapes yet, I hate pruning, even my cherries. Unless I feel like I really should or I have to I prefer to leave em with good results..

But anyway the one thing you should be thinking about it how much rootmass the plant has got and whether it will be able to sustain all the potential grapes it is producing. If not you should consider increasing the pot/rooting space or if you cannot do that then prune away any grape bundles you think is too much. I wouldn't cut any branches till autumn.. when you can then be real radical and judge based on this years growth how much you should cut it down to have a good size next year.

The one thing you need to avoid is your plant drying out from having too many grapes. If you can constantly water the plant it won't be an issue but I saw a post about a great looking grape vine just dying because it got too big.

Pruning greenhouse grape

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