“I’m thankful that at least so far we have had somewhat adequate snow and rain and the temperatures have not been overly warm or too cold placing stress on trees and shrubs as had happened last year with the too warm winter followed by a too warm and dry spring”.
This season has been fairly mild and should prove to be helpful for our plants to start this spring with a limb up. Sometimes we need to give them some help.
Last week we mentioned making sure all of your garden tools were sharpened and sanitized. This week it is time to put some of those tools to work! If you have grapevines, now is the best time to give them a trim, clean them up, and comb them out. You’ll want to make sure your blades are sharpened as well for your fruit trees as you are going to want to remove any crossing or rubbing limbs, shape the trees and give them some late winter T.L.C.
When I was very young my uncle brought bare root grape vines back with him from one of his trips back to his homeland of Columbia. He planted these grapevines, three in total, along a hurricane fence separating his and my grandfather’s properties. As young as I was, I understood they were grapevines, and I would spend hours with my grandmother ambushing otherwise clueless Japanese beetles with a jar of water and dish soap. To understand the meaning of these grapes and the value of the wine to be made from them, I was as clueless as the Japanese beetles.
Today I am older and a Horticulturist much like my grandfather was. Today I have my grandfather’s home and these grapevines, in which so much of my history is entwined, are still on the original hurricane fence. The fence is much worse for ware, though the grapevines still produce strong. Some years are better than others and I am still learning myself, as they say…. when life hands you grapes…make wine!
If you have grapevines odds are they are not just for looks. It is quite enjoyable when all of your cultivating pays off in a deliciously edible fruit or fruit product to use to make something deliciously edible i.e. preserves, jams, jellies, wine and other delectable treats. The garden is your pantry – I bet you keep your pantry clean – floor swept, cobwebs at bay, insects and disease are non existent in the pantry – and I bet most of you have all of your food staples orderly so you can view them easily to know what is on hand. Keep this idea at the forefront when thinking of pruning your grapevines. You want your grapevines clean of debris and pruned for maximum production, you do not want a pest or disease invasion, trim them at the right time – trim them right.
Most grapevines in a home garden are of the American varieties, as told by the Ohio State University Extension; these trimming techniques will pertain to such varieties.
Grapevines are vigorous growers and anyone serious about the grape production needs to be very aggressive in their care. The first three years of planting a grapevine are crucial in regards to shape and creating the lateral structures you will maintain with all of the future grape production. You will want to prune out any canes that produced fruit last year – they will not produce again. This year’s fruit will be produced on the new one-year-old canes. You want these canes to have adequate airflow between them as well as good sunlight penetration. Look at your grapevines and decide what spacing you feel is adequate. Bring all of the one-year-old canes you have decided to keep in toward the lateral by pruning them back to a three, four or five node fruiting spur. Keep your grapevines combed so the canes are not growing wild and shading/crowding each other. There are many different systems for training a grapevine – for more in depth information on these or alternate styles of pruning grapevines check out Ohio State University’s Fact Sheet
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1428.html
After you are done with the grapes head on over to the orchard and give your apple trees, pears and other fruit trees a trim. Remember to sanitize your tools between trimming different plants. You would not want the doctor to use the same syringe he used on the patient before you; our plants deserve the same respect.
Start by pruning out the suckers – these are the growth that appears at the base of the tree growing straight up. Prune out all of the water sprouts – these are the small limbs growing straight up off of another limb or the trunk. Prune out any limbs that are dead, broken, crossing, rubbing or crowding. Now you should be able to get a better view of the shape of your fruit tree. Prune any limbs back that are outperforming the central leader. Prune limbs up higher on the trunk if you would like your fruit production higher off of the ground. Make sure there is plenty of room for air circulation within the crown of the tree and sunlight penetration – this will help to prevent disease. Give your tree a balanced shape and trim vigorous growers with vigor and take it easy on the slow ones. A good rule of thumb is – do not remove any more than one third at any time when pruning a tree or shrub.
If you have more questions on your fruit trees or grapevines feel free to write in, we are here for you!
Until next week, Life cannot throw you lemons if you do not take care of the lemon tree!
We hope you have been learning some things along the way; we’d love to hear from you!
