# Trellising second year vines



## BryGuy (Sep 4, 2013)

I intern on a small farm and I have a daunting task. I have to trellis 30 grape vines that are on their second year of growing without any pruning or prior trellising. Last year they were in large pots for the summer and then transplanted in the fall. 

We finally completed the trellising infrastructure, but the vines have been growing along the ground all year and no pruning has taken place. So the plants all have numerous woody vines coming from the root stock and they seem hard to train. We're looking to take this on now but I'm unsure of how to carry on. I haven't been able to find information on what to do in this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also I can take pictures if that helps


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## GreginND (Sep 4, 2013)

So, these were put in last fall? I guess I would treat them like 1st year vines. Let them grow this year. Next spring while dormant, prune back to 2 or 3 buds near the base and train those up on the trellis. One of those from next year's growth will become the trunk.


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## BryGuy (Sep 4, 2013)

So cutting or pruning now would not be advised? Also should I remove grape clusters or at this point does it not matter. Oh and I forgot to mention we're in southern NH.


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## bchilders (Sep 4, 2013)

BryGuy said:


> I intern on a small farm and I have a daunting task. I have to trellis 30 grape vines that are on their second year of growing without any pruning or prior trellising. Last year they were in large pots for the summer and then transplanted in the fall.
> 
> We finally completed the trellising infrastructure, but the vines have been growing along the ground all year and no pruning has taken place. So the plants all have numerous woody vines coming from the root stock and they seem hard to train. We're looking to take this on now but I'm unsure of how to carry on. I haven't been able to find information on what to do in this situation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also I can take pictures if that helps



What variety of grape are these vines and what trellis system do you plan to put in? 
It is best to begin training a vine to a trellis system from the beginning so some of the vines may need to be pruned back and started over after the wires are in place. Pictures might help.


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## GreginND (Sep 4, 2013)

I would not prune now. You want as much energy to go into the root system as possible. You should remove clusters for the first couple years at least.


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## BryGuy (Sep 4, 2013)

bchilders said:


> What variety of grape are these vines and what trellis system do you plan to put in?
> It is best to begin training a vine to a trellis system from the beginning so some of the vines may need to be pruned back and started over after the wires are in place. Pictures might help.



We have St. Croix, Frontenac, and Marquette. 























Sorry if the formatting is weird, I'm on my phone


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## grapeman (Sep 4, 2013)

You can probably train them up now with those hardy varieties. I would wait a few weeks until just before the vines go dormant then I would tie a piece of twine from the base of the vine to the top wire. Next visually inspect the vine for the longest straightest shoot. Try and bring that up and wrap a couple times around the twine. Cut off all the rest of the shoots flush with the barky wood at the base. This is not the preferred way to do it, but you need to improvise since it is so late. Alternately you could wait as Greg says and prune back in the spring, but I believe the vines you have are large enough to do as I say and you will be one year closer to grapes. Those grapes could be taken off which will help preserve root reserves to get the vine off strong next spring.


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## bchilders (Sep 4, 2013)

I would not prune too much if at all till mid winter or in the spring before bud break. As for the grapes already on the vine, I agree it will better serve the vine to remove them. It might even help ensure survival if this coming winter is colder than usual. 
It is hard to tell from these pictures if any of these vines have a suitable truck with enough height to reach the first wire. If they do you can start with that and then use next year to establish the cordons. It all depends on what trellis system you will be using. Looks like you have a low wire so most of these might have a suitable trunk. If not then plan to prune all the way back and train up a trunk next year. I have used string as suggest above but prefer bamboo stakes or any stake to support the vine during training but since you have the wire up, string will work fine. 

I found the below link from UKY that does a good job outlining concepts and processes for training vines. Another good resource for me is a book by Philip Wagner called "A Wine-Growers Guide" 

www.uky.edu/Ag/CDBREC/vinemanagement.pdf


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