Gardening & Landscaping Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gardeners and landscapers. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I have planted a vine from a local vineyard this year. It is strong and has woken up showing strong buds and looks promising.
I do not want to grow it the traditional way, like a vineyard, but basically want it to grow up the fence and on to a pergola on the other side.
I just need to know how I can prune it to maximise its growth?
There is no "traditional way, like a vineyard". Depending on the regions, there are many different traditional ways.
I would leave as it is now, but remove all extra shots that will grow outside the 3 branches. So it should be growth well and balanced. You can remove all grapes (or maybe you can leave one just to see it), so that the plant will grow faster, this year.
I expect next winter you need to do a huge pruning, but it is OK: the vine will store all energy on roots. So you can choose the form. Probably I would choose one or two long branches (5-7 buds) and two short branches.
If the weather, water, fertilizer, variety are not very strong, you need one or two additional years. But it is much easier to water and to have a good position, for a single vine, then in a vineyard, so your plant will grow faster.
Traditional "vineyard" training/pruning is done to maximize the quality of the grape for wine production. So, it really depends on what you are using the vine for. So if you are going for quality grapes then a double cordon, or Geneva double curtain style works very well. If it is for a "screen" or any other reason where the fruit is not your main concern, You can basically train it any way you want. the vine will grow massive but the fruit will be of little use, with the exception of attracting birds.
