First year vine too tall now...

[cynthrax]

I have the great problem in that my first year vines have already reached the top trellis wire (about 5.5 ft off the ground), and have grown about another foot beyond that. Being that it is July and we have a large amount more time for vine growth, would it be a good idea to trim the top off of the vine to prevent it from growing taller, or should I let those vines grow as much as possible the first year?

 

[Xnke]

Bend it over at the wire and start training it along the wire if it is not already starting to lignify and harden. Select a lateral shoot to start training the other direction along the wire if that is the training style you want.

 

[VinesnBines]

You can tie it to the wire and let it grow because you are building roots this year. In late winter/spring you will prune it back to two buds above the graph (or if self rooted, two buds above ground). Those new shoots will be your trunks and you will train the trunks to the fruiting wire.

It won’t hurt to trim it back or top it. The deer like to hedge my young vines when they pop out of the grow tubes. The vine will keep growing.

 

[user 36973]

would it be a good idea to trim the top off of the vine to prevent it from growing taller

This is what I do. You'll get laterals that will become cordons. The problem I've found with bending over the trunk is that there is a difference between that bent trunk and the lateral cordon in vigor and fruitfulness next season

 

[cynthrax]

Some extra info about my trellis and some more actions I've been taking...

My trellis consists of 5 wires ranging from about 2' to 5' off the ground. I'm planning on 4 cordons (2 per side) per vine around the 3' and 5' mark.

From all the things that I have been reading about, everything says that the first year are for growing a deep root system and a strong trunk. I've been removing laterals so that the vine is putting all the energy into the roots and trunk. I am also concentrating on 2 vines for right now and plan on choosing the most healthy one to be the trunk.

I was planning on concentrating on laterals / cordons next year.

Based on the feedback so far, it seems like topping the vines now would be fine and allow the plant to put more effort into the root system. Does that sound like I'm on the right track?

 

[wood1954]

I also put two wires up at 3&5’ this Year I have grapes a few inches off the ground and foliage on the ground. It’s hard to spray and will be hard to harvest, so this winter I’m pruning everything back to one 5’ wire, less crop but maybe better quality and easier to care for. The vineyard I used to go to pick grapes for wine has no lower wires. I would not prune anything this season, wait till winter.

 

[BigH]

How many trunks are you trying to grow? Do you have pencil thick shoots all the way to the top wire?

If you are growing two trunks, bend them over and train one in each direction along the wire.

For a single trunk, there is controversy on whether you should pinch off the trunk a bit above the wire and train a lateral in each direction, or bend the trunk over in one direction and train a lateral in the other direction. Some people feel that creates a dominance issue that favors the primary trunk at the expense of the lateral. I have not seen any studies that actually back this idea up. I generally bent mine over and haven't had any dominance issues. I have also tried the pinching technique, but the lateral shoots that emerge never seem to cooperate with where I want them to go. You can correct that at winter pruning.

H