By Clint Thompson
It is the time of the year when Southeast grape producers are pruning their vines in preparation for a productive 2026 season. But there are management tips that growers must be mindful of before starting the pruning process.
Sarah Lowder, University of Georgia (UGA) viticulture Extension specialist, discussed pruning in an interview with AgNet Media.
“They want to do it while it’s dormant,” Lowder said. “They need to be thinking about the training style that they’re going for. Even if it’s a homeowner growing it on a fence for instance. I was just talking to some folks who were growing some vines through a fence, and they have the vine growing all the way through all the chain link portions which can be really easy for helping it stay where it should be. But it also will girdle the vines as it starts to grow large enough.
“It’s trying to balance the structure that you have and making sure the vine can continue to grow unhindered for as long as possible before you have to go in and make big cuts because you’ve girdled the vine or some sort of thing like that.”
Pruning is an annual practice that results in the retention of fruitful buds. Retaining fruitful buds determines shoot density, cluster number and crop yield in the following season. Ineffective pruning can compromise the quality and quantity of the crop. Failing to prune can also lead to wood-borne disease and decreased fruit production over time.
“When you are pruning you are trying to set your cropping potential. Your fruit is coming off of the chutes that were formed last year. It’s coming into its second year, and that’s the wood that’s going to produce your fruit,” Lowder said. “But if you don’t prune at all you tend to get way more fruit that’s going to have much lower quality. That can potentially damage the vine going forward.”