Grow, train and prune table grapes

Train and prune your plant for luscious juicy grapes.

If you want large juicy table grapes, establish your grape vine first.

Where to grow your plant

Grow it in full sun, in a sheltered area, along a wire frame 5 to 6 metres long. Only two wires are necessary. The bottom wire can be at any height, but the second one should be 300 to 400 mm above. The first wire supports the plant frame. The second wire will support the new canes that grow each year and on which the grapes form. You might choose to place your first wire at only 500 mm above the ground so children can pick the grapes. You might place it at an easy adult picking height. It might be along the edge of a verandah or patio to provide shade and gourmet joy. Or it might be part of a frame over a chicken run … who knows? I have a vine along the edge of a verandah under a plastic roof overhang. The first wire is against the building frame. The second wire is at the same level 300 mm out from the frame. Dew and rain drip from the roof onto the leaves. The leaves are exposed to full sun and the plastic roof protects the grapes from searing sunburn. (See photos at the end of this article.) Wherever you grow your plant, only two wires are necessary. Once your large juicy grapes have been eaten and the leaves have dropped off in autumn, the canes will be pruned back again to the main frame leaving the top wire empty. The next year, new canes will develop and will attach to the top wire with new bunches of grapes.

Train the plant during the first spring (left). In winter the plant lies dormant waiting for spring (right). In the next spring new canes and grapes form.

How to train your plant in the first year

Do not expect grapes in your first year. Establishing a strong plant frame is an optimistic and regular process that you can play with over the first season. Once the plant grows as high as the first wire, take off the branches on the main trunk almost up to the first wire. Close to the wire, leave a branch on. Train the main stem along one side of the wire and the branch along the other side. Clip or tie the leaders to the wire at intervals. Do not wind them round the wire. As the plant grows it will send out tendrils that will attach strongly to the wire. As this happens, you can undo the clips or ties and use them further along near the growing end. As side branches develop, pinch them out. This will stimulate growth on the end of each leader. If, by any chance, you break the tip out of the leader by accident, train the last branch along the wire instead. Once the leaders have reached the end of the wire, pinch out the growing tips at the ends. Now the energy of the plant will be put into strengthening the main frame. In the next year when the plant has a solid trunk and a strong base form you can start stimulating the vine to put effort into producing grapes rather than producing leaves. Grapes grow well in arid soil, so don’t kill them with kindness and fertiliser. The plant needs to develop deep roots to search out water and trace elements and minerals from the subsoil. Over winter the vine will remain in a leafless, dormant state waiting for the warmth of spring to stimulate growth.

Next spring

Leaf buds will form at each node as the warmth of spring takes effect. After the buds open out, canes (or twigs) begin to grow.

After 3 or 4 leaves have developed on each cane, flowers will begin to appear. They look like tiny bunches of grapes. Watch and wait until there are at least three leaves above the flowers on each cane. At this stage, the flowers will be producing feathery tips. These are the parts of the flower that need to be fertilised to produce fruit. Pollination occurs by wind so it is important to keep the plant open for the wind to ripple through between the flowers. Pluck off all leaves along each cane below the flowers (see photo left).

New leaves will continue to grow beyond the flowers. Once there are 5 large leaves, pluck the growing tip out. These 5 or so leaves are enough to provide photosynthesis and shade for the growing fuit. By keeping only a few leaves the plant’s energy goes into filling out the grapes rather than into making new leaves.

As time goes by, the plant will attempt to create more leaves at intervals on the main plant and as lateral shoots in the crooks of the 5 leaves. Pluck these out at regular intervals as they appear. This will keep the plant’s energy moving into the grapes.

You may need to cover your grapes with netting to protect your booty from looting birds. Do this only as the grapes start to ripen. If you do it earlier it will be difficult to keep the laterals and extra leaf growth under control.

Pick your grapes when ripe. Enjoy!!

After leaf fall, choose a dry day and prune each cane back to the second node (see photo below). Your plant will sleep awhile, waiting for the next spring’s activity.

One wire against the deck structure holds the plant frame. (Photo at left – Note the trunk of the vine on the right-hand post, pruned of any leaves.) The photo at right shows the second wire that supports the season’s growth.