Gardening tips for late December: Prune a vine

Horticultural aide memoire

No.48: Prune a vine

Your established greenhouse grapevine is now dormant, so now is the time to prune it. The object is to leave the rod (the main long, woody shoot) in place, and shorten the spurs (sideshoots). These are the shoots that will bear the fruit next year. Follow the current year’s growth from the tip of the rod back to where it started, and cut it back with secateurs to an inch or so of the old growth. Then cut each spur back to a single bud.