Some responses of Vitis vinifera to pruning

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The practice of pruning vines to develop a desired form and to influence fruitfulness is a very old one, and yet it is doubtful if, among the necessary operations of grape growing, there is one which is perhaps founded on more fallacies or on which so little progress has been made during the last century. With only minor modifications, such as the location of the desired spur or cane, vinifera vines are pruned today much in the same manner as they were by the Romans. The belief that was established among the grape growers of centuries past, that winter pruning invigorates the vine, still prevails.

In 1876 Dr. Guyot1 noted the belief of the vine growers of France and elsewhere that “it is necessary to prune young vines in order to repress the sap and strengthen the roots.” This belief, however, was not limited to the grower, for in 1899 L. H. Bailey2 stated that “pruning increases vigor.”

Later3 in 1916, he modified this statement, but added that “pruning must have something of the effect of manure.”