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Winter is the time to prune grapes.

There are two basic ways to prune dormant grapes, to canes or spurs. Both are selected from the new growth. Canes have 10 to 15 buds, while spurs usually have two to four buds. This is a vine of Valiant trained to canes. The trellis is a free-standing design built around the vine, which had been growing on a tree. The "wires" are pieces of steel reinforcing bar (rebar) used in concrete work. I used 3/8 inch rebar. I drilled 3/8 inch holes in the wood and hammered them through. After 2 years, no sagging on the 8 foot section. Just drilled the hole smaller than the ridges on the rebar. The bar fit so tight through the holes in the 4x4 it's like they were screwed in. The ridges hold like screw threads.  For a complete video on pruning of grapes, see:
http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html

Lon Rombough's background includes: Two degrees in horticulture, plus Ph.D level work in plant breeding and genetics; 40+ years experience with several hundred varieties and species of plants; working for and with organizations such as the National Clonal Germplasm Repository at Corvallis, Oregon, North American Fruit Explorers, and the Seed Savers Exchange. Lon tells the story of how his passion for grapes developed in this fascinating video: http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/

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Website design copyright 2010 Charles Paradise  Pictures and text this page copyright 2010 Lon Rombough