Cane Pruning Young Grapevines | Cane Pruning vs Spur Pruning | Thompson Grapes

When it comes to pruning grapevines, there are basically 2 different ways of pruning, spur pruning and cane pruning. Today we're cane pruning our 3 year old Thompson grapevines.
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[@aparnakumta2291]

Always enjoyed watching you and Lori prune the grape vines, you make it look so easy!!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. Grapevines are one of the last things we prune, so after a month and a half of pruning trees, it's the home stretch for us!

[@hoalefarm8788]

I was so surprised and so wonderful, so admiring, I felt so small

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one!

[@AmzBackyardOrchardandVineyard]

Hi neighbors! Thanks for the update! Last season we got bombarded with mealy bugs that damaged a lot of our vines and Canes. We were only able to select a couple of renewal canes on some of our vines, praying that our Vines will recover from last year's damage. Cheers to this growing season for all!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Aaron! My goodness, that's frustrating. I know you're limited on space, do the vines get full day sun?

[@user-hh3cz1km6h]

Did you hose off the bugs? There's a lot of Italian cypress in town, but mites will kill it because no one washes them off.

[@carolgebert7833]

Thanks. Very helpful.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you found this one useful!

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

Oh, those cats! They really know how to take the spotlight.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Those cats are a lot of fun. They pretty much follow us everywhere and plop themselves right down next to us without a second thought!

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video. Lot to learn Cane Pruning of Young Grapevines Thompson Grapes 9:02 / 10:22

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one Abid!

[@MyAussieGardenKitchen]

G'day guys. I remember when you first put in the grapes and they look so well established now. You actually inspired me a few years ago to pull my finger out and get grapes going here. Not on your scale as I only want table grapes for the family, but a couple of years on now and I have an abundance of Flame red seedless and Crimson red seedless to feed the family. To top it off, I made it as a walkway, with my propagated thornless blackberries running down the opposite side. Summer now, so I walk down and pick grapes and blackberries either side of me. Heaven!!! You are looking well too. Farm life is treating you well. All the best, Daz.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Daz! Lori and I have been keeping up with your farming/homesteading adventures and have seen that tunnel. From I recall you have bird netting over the whole thing which is a GREAT idea. That sitting area you have looks like a jungle too. Love it!!

[@nekoDan]

Informative and entertaining as usual. Really amazing how much pruning is required. Glad to see all the farm critters out there”helping” on the projects. 😊

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. We're trying to get more "How-to" content up this year and pruning season gives us a lot of things to cover!

[@theannecrossett7761]

Looks good, love watching the 2 of you work together as a team. Makes me (almost) wish I had a grape vine :)

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. This would be near impossible without a couple of us doing a lot of these projects. Funny, we met at work 28 years ago, so we've pretty much worked together forever!

[@theannecrossett7761]

My second husband and I were a good team, I miss that, so enjoy it when I see other husband/wife teams :)@@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@dianaj3139]

Our grape vines seem to get more and more crazy every year!! Although my husband does some pruning he really hates doing it... so he is hesitant to get crazy with it and really prune back ... because of this we have grapes in our cherry trees and before taking down a large fir tree we had LOTS of seedless grapes in the fir tree! This video was a wake up for me, now If I can get him to sit down and watch it. FUN TIMES!!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Well, it sounds like you're still getting a heck of a harvest. A fir tree is a heck of a stable trellis if nothing else!!

[@thetackroomeu]

I attempted to prune our grapevines for the first time about 2 hours BEFORE you published this video, my timing is impeccable....lol. This will be the 3rd summer our vines have been in the ground and they've barely grown, about thigh high. Is this because I've never pruned them or something else? They get about 8 gallons 2x's a week in the height of the summer. We're basically neighbors so same climate :) Thanks for putting out such great videos, I always look forward to them!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Howdy neighbor! You didn't mention what varieties you're growing as that can make a difference in growth. Otherwise, the most important thing with grapevines (besides annual pruning) is sun exposure followed closely by irrigation. They need absolutely full sun with no shade whatsoever to get the most growth. Irrigation is key as well and during the peak of summer our vines are watered 2-3x/week with about 12 gallons/vine at each watering. Keep in mind, that's the peak of summer with temps above 110. No more than twice a week up to that and basically nothing during the Winter months. Oh and plenty of woodchip mulch to keep that moisture consistent and the actual soil temps down a bit. Hope this helps!

[@thetackroomeu]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks for replying! Should have mentioned we have Flame and Thompson(that one was just planted a few months ago so jury is still out on it). We have tons of mulch and full sun. Sounds like we could water them a little more frequently.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@thetackroomeu we have both of those varieties as well, so unless there is something else going on with the soil, you should see similar growth and production. Those are both very consistent producers for us.

[@thetackroomeu]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm hopefully the pruning will help them out and we'll add more water this summer. Thank you again for your time!

[@tonisee2]

Very vigorous one year growth!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thompson grapevines are definitely our most vigorous. The Flame is a close second, but they definitely take the vigor trophy!

[@johanconradie2120]

jeepers , the sheer rate of growth of your plants beats any area in usa HANDS DOWN !!!😁 💥

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It's pretty wild to see. That VERY long growing season and plenty of sunshine really makes a difference in our vines!

[@terigeorge5545]

Glad to see an instructional video today. Love the FOUR cats!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. Those cats are starting to take these over. They're pretty much fearless out there now!

[@bijou737]

Great lesson on pruning grapes. Thank you! But, sorry Duane, the kitties stole the show! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

The cats are definitely taking over the channel. They pop up everywhere!

[@bijou737]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm They are adorable 🥰

[@texasvinecountry119]

Wow! You can REALLY tell those are happy vines right there all around you. Great job pruning and trellising (both cane and spur). We'll point people who need some cane pruning examples this way. With the level of vigor you have on most of those Thompson vines you could nearly do a second higher fruiting wire at head high and still be fine if you wanted to. Just disbud the canes that go to the higher wire between the vine head and the top wire during pruning and desucker any blind buds on it during early season so they don't grow in messy. Are they own-rooted or on rootstock? Y'all are killing it with the vines!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

The vine growth we get here is just insane. The Thompsons are probably the most aggressive, but we see it on most of the varieties we're growing. So we have 6 Thompson vines total. 3 are on a Freedom root stock and 3 are on their own. The trunk on the Freedom vines is a little bigger and the vigor is a little higher, but the other 3 hold their own.

[@glleon80517]

Duane and Lori, hi from George L in zone 9B in Fountain Hills. Those Thompson Seedless vines are Beasts! Hard to believe how big the trunks are. Always love to see how fearless a pruner you are! Have you pruned your vinifera vines yet? And, did you keep water on your vines through the winter? Cheers, thanks for the video!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey George! We wrapped up pruning the vines week before last with the Cabernet. We only irrigated a couple of times over the Winter season with all of the rain. We'll start up again this week with the warmer weather anticipating that bud break!

[@kindafoggy]

Perfect timing. I'm on the fence about coppicing or trellising 6 grapevines. Thank you for the information!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Timing is everything and now is definitely the time to make that decision. Before you know it, they'll be bursting with new growth!

[@kindafoggy]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I'll get them pruned up this week. You guys are an inspiration for sure.

[@Donnie_M.]

I live a few miles from the Gallo Family mansion here in central valley California zone 9B and can you believe I have no idea what table grapes to plant? Thank you for the video,

[@adrianbobo9755]

Jupiter,Cardinal,Black Magic,Hamburg

[@Donnie_M.]

@@adrianbobo9755 Thanks. We love the green seedless oblong grapes you can get the stores, is there a variety of those you can recommend for growing in the backyard?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Donnie. Wow, with neighbors like that, you need to get some vines in the ground! Reading some of the comments below, if you're looking for a green, proven seedless grape that produces well just about anywhere and tastes amazing, it's really hard to beat Thompson grapes. We have them here and they do fantastic.

[@yaso4719]

❤vgood job

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one! ❤️

[@HocusPocusist]

Nice quick synopsis on cane selection! You're definitely training them like VSP winegrapes are grown, and I'm not certain but I've heard that table grapes need a slightly different, less "harsh" pruning but I haven't actually seen anyone do what they describe. I've also seen 1 thompson seedless vine that encompassed a 40ft fenceline and still produced nicely? My honest opinion is if it's working for your purpose, and you're getting the vigor/yield you want, go for it! I like to tell newbies that come help prune after I've given them the tutorial "PRUNE THEM TILL YOU"RE SCARED!', never fails to get a horrified look!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It sounds like you've been doing this for a while, because we get the same response from folks who come over for our pruning workshops. They gasp at that first big cut then get used to seeing it over and over again.

[@paul.1337]

I need to get out and train the grape vines I put in last Spring. It's still been dipping below freezing though overnight and only in the 40s during the day. I planted a Somerset (smallish red/pink seedless table grape, tastes like strawberries, apparently) and Concord Seedless (it was part of the combo I got the Somerset with, so I figured why not for like $5 more or whatever it was?). They both grew two very long ~12-15' vines. I headed back the smaller ones half way through the Summer to focus the plants' resources. I'm probably going to cane prune them up a post 4-5' and then down a wire 8.' Like an 'L'' that tipped over clockwise 90 degrees. I also rooted some cuttings,

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It sounds like you have a solid plan for getting those pruned back. With growth like that in their first year, you should see a solid harvest from those vines!

[@kylanvanemmerik9397]

Ok! I think I got mine right! Now, question time. This will be year two for my vines. Do you train them up or are they naturally going to make it up to the next two lines? Just wondering what to prepare for next!! Love your videos! I wouldn't have grape vines without you two!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I don't remember how you have yours pruned, but if you have canes on the 3' wire they will grow both up and down. We have added a total of 3 wires between the 3' and 6' wires, so the young shoots can wrap themselves around the wire and continue to grow vertically.

[@kylanvanemmerik9397]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm oh I did the cane prune, as close to your video as I could. So, thank you! Lol! And 3 wires between the 3 and 6ft mark? Ok! I will add more!! Thank you so much!!!

[@authorcharlieboring]

I have kiwi vives growing over my pergola in Virginia. I should say "had," since I just took them out since they had caused by pergola to deteriorate and I am going to rebuild it. The pruning technique is essentially the same as grapes. Last year my two female vines gave us about 700 kiwis.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Oh my goodness, that is a TON of kiwi. We're not able to grow those down here, so just a little jealous of that harvest!

[@mesutozsen903]

Eline emeğine sağlık bu güzel vlog ve video için kolay gelsin hayirli işler bol bereketli kazançların olsun 👍👍👍👍

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Mesut'a teşekkür ederim. Umarım bugünlerde Türkiye'de her şey yolundadır!

[@kevincharles112]

Real informative. Just did mine ... but they are only a year old. Is there a shelf-life to the trunks? At some point, do you try to establish a new trunk, or do you just replace the entire plant once the production drops? Sure appreciate you guys sharing these. Thanks as always

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Kevin. The trunks are good for many, many years. Probably more than either of us have left, but from what I understand they fully "mature" at 20 years and then production starts to decrease.

[@SanitaKJ]

Oops I think I pruned my vines just a little too soon. Already have so much growth and fruiting but that’s ok now I know what to do for next year. As always thank you for another very helpful and educational video. Just one more thing, how much do you water and how often ?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

The great part with grapevines and pruning is they are VERY forgiving. It may cost some fruit for a season, but they bounce right back the following year. Depending on the time of year we water anywhere from none (during the Winter months with any amount of rain) to about 12 gallons per vine, 3x/week. That's peak of summer with no rain.

[@pastpianist]

My vines are on their second year (1st year was in a pot but now they are in the ground). Should I cut new growth that's growing straight up so that I get more lateral growth for putting onto wire next year? or should I just let everything grow as it would and worry about it next end of winter pruning?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We shape to the wires at their first pruning which is after their first year in the ground. If they spent last year growing in the ground then now is the time to cut them back and start to shape to the wire. I'll link to a video we did on this for you here; kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHPKqGV3fsxjnNE

[@pastpianist]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Because mine was in a pot, I had to trim it back quit far because the branches weren't think so year 2 is kind of like year 1 on repeat. Sounds like I should let it grow wildly this year with no pruning then next year wire it up

[@slamboy66]

Do the vines on the arch still produce or just leaf❓❓❓

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

They do produce, but the fruit leaves a LOT to be desired. We don't even attempt to harvest them so they're really there to make the arches look pretty during the Summer months. They're an Arizona native (AZ Canyon Grape from Sedona), so we kinda feel obligated to keep them around!

[@slamboy66]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Looking for more leaves than fruit, just climbers.🍇

[@lcglazer]

So how do I decide if I should cane prune vs spur prune? I live in Southern California, and the wine grape I have is a petit verdot. Thanks!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I'm not familiar with that variety, so I can't say from experience. If a Google search doesn't turn up any results/suggestions, I would start with a Spur Pruned vine and watch production. The main difference is how far along last year's vine you get fruit production from each bud. On cane pruned vines you get production along the whole vine from each bud. On spur pruned vines the production only occurs on the first few buds. Hopefully that makes sense!

[@lcglazer]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Interesting. Can you explain a little more why on spur pruned vines theres only production on a few buds? It would seem that the arm would have the same number of nodes but you're saying fruit only comes out of a few of them? In that case I should cut it back and change to cane pruning.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@lcglazer cane pruning the first time would be fine. You'll know for sure if you only see fruit production from the first few buds on each cane. If that's the case you'll want to convert those canes to cordons moving forward. This way each spur (cut back to 2-3 buds) will give you fruit along the entire cordon. Honestly, we have still had success with spur pruned vines that should have been cane pruned. They get a little more unruly with how they grow, but the production of the vines was still solid.

[@suspect5420]

I would like to see how you prune for the trellis. I think there are alot of info out there on that style but very little on pruning for a trellis. I think there are plenty of home ownere that would appreciate that video.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thanks for the suggestion. We do have a couple of grapevines on pergolas, but they are ornamental as opposed to production vines, so we're not as particular about how we prune them.

[@andrewstancil1723]

So if I understand correctly you need to take off the “old” growth from last year and use the new canes if you want more grapes? Starting grapes this year and learning a lot from your videos.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

For cane pruned vines, yes. You'll remove everything from last year except for the 2 canes you're laying down for this year's production as well as a "backup" or "renewal" cane for either a backup should 1 cane not come back, or to encourage new growth near the head for your canes next year. Hopefully that makes sense!

[@andrewstancil1723]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm makes perfect sense! Will be using this one my grapes next season thank you! 🙏🏻

[@samuraioodon]

I just bought a baby vine that’s only about 1 foot from the main branch. My question is how to plant. Do I need to protect from our hot Texas sun? Also can I plant in a 20 gallon grow bag would you recommend that or in the ground preferably? Thank you!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Congrats on that new baby vine!! As for planting, you'll want to get that in the ground and now is the perfect time to plant. As for sun, all of our trees and vines here on the property are in full sun and grapevines in particular do not do well in shade. They need full, blazing sun to thrive like you see on our vines. I'm going to link a few videos for you here on sun vs shade and also how we planted our grapevines; Sun vs Shade; kzbin.info/www/bejne/eny1ZZSIpclorLs Planting Potted Grapevines; kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4uxkIlqnrZ-fdk Planting Bare Root Grapevines; kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJ-Vk4GmlselqKc

[@samuraioodon]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks! My idea was to plant these on the south side of my chicken coop to help block the sun. My issue is there's a 5' fence 4' feet away. If I plant it by using the fence as trellis the fence blocks the vine. It could get reflective sun from coop wall I think if that is still the same full sun? Or I could plant just 1 foot away from the coop and do a wire trellis similar to yours? Would love to hear your thoughts. Appreciate the links too, watching the potting when you did in October!

[@HealthyFarmLiving]

@@samuraioodon Your best bet in this case is to plant it as far away from the wall as you're able, so it limits the shade if at all possible. If you can get the vine to reach above the fence then you'll be in good shape as the leaves are what need the direct sunlight as opposed to the trunk. If you're running it up onto your coop, I assume that would do it.

[@user-hh3cz1km6h]

Donno how they do it, but in Italy, the double crop grapes and chestnuts. Chestnuts are used to hold grape vines which, in humid areas, means disease free grapes. How do they prune them? I asked folks in Pennsylvania and they said their parents just let the vines grow for a while, then cut them down. But, no one knew how much or when they knew to do it. A bro had a pine in the backyard with a concord that stretched 20 feet up into the branches. His father planted the grape. He had an extension ladder to pick grapes and they got a lot for wine and jelly. Any bunches too high were for the birds. Cousins did that to pick fox grapes. One grandfather did but the oaks in the woods got too high. Guess we're all groundhogs, LOL.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Grapes and Chestnuts is an interesting combo. I can see using the larger tree to let the vines climb up, so maybe grapes and mulberries for us here!

[@user-hh3cz1km6h]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm european chestnut can grow over 70 feet tall, tho they likely kept them pruned to half that size. Maybe that's why Italians love angels so much... Ouch!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@Ni-dk7ni we have a couple of persimmons on the farm now. They grow pretty slow and wild, but haven't given us a ripe fruit yet. 🤷

[@kitassestanley8772]

Do they grow in Africa

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

As long as you have cool winters and very warm summers, they should do well for you.

[@SlackerU]

I think you might ought to put some N fertilizer on the wood-chip pile to see if it'll heat up more than an untreated section, maybe some sulfur for the anaerobic bacteria too. If you control your drainage for flash-floods then it might be more beneficial to have all of those chips over the whole area in a 6-inch layer instead of leaving it piled up to stay dry & overheated all summer. You also kinda have enough carbon to make an acidic-bog instead of a pond to draw water from for your high-ph soil, like the ultimate compost tea pond. I have a 4ft deep bog but the sump is only a 4-inch pipe & I haven't data-logged the water it can produce.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

As usual, you have some great suggestions. The primary reason we're "hoarding" the chips in that area right now is it's been very hard to get deliveries out here recently. Until we can find a regular source again, we're storing those away for backfill.

[@CraftEccentricity]

What is the gadget you used to fix the vines to the wire?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's called a tapener. I'll link to the one we use for you here; amzn.to/3V2fdE7 Now, this one is a little more expensive and we figured it was worth the extra cost given how much we'll be using it. There are MANY other options on Amazon besides this one though. Especially if you won't use it too often.