PRUNING PRINCIPLES 



113 



spurs and other twigs where required and observe many 

 other finicky details. 



With grapes some of these considerations may also be in 

 order, but the pruning of the vine differs from that of trees 

 mainly because of the natural habit of the plant. Two 

 classes of ideas are employed in grape pruning; one which 

 merely removes unnecessary wood, the other which seeks 

 to train the vine to some desired form. Since the various 

 forms differ widely, the number of buds left on individual 

 canes also varies widely. Some 

 of the principles of pruning, 

 therefore, play a less prominent 

 part in grape growing than in the 

 management of other fruits. 



105. 16. Fruit bearing is more 

 or less influenced bv the time of 

 year ivhcu pruning is done ; sum- 

 mer priming farors fruit bud 

 formation, ivhcreas ivinter prun- 

 ing tends to brancli bud and 

 ivood formation. 



Plants pruned during the d :r- 

 mant season promptly endeavor 

 to make up their losses by de- 

 veloping increased growths dur- 

 ing the following spring, but 

 plants pruned between late 

 spring and late summer usually 

 have sufficient time to readjust themselves before the season 

 closes, so there is little or no excessive development of wood 

 the following spring. One reason for this effect is that 

 summer pruning considerably reduces the leaf area, thus 

 reducing the quantity of elaborated plant food. Hence the 

 process tends to weaken rather than strengthen growth. In 

 support of these statements it may be pointed out that 

 suckers and water sprouts are far more numerous after 



FIG. 77 



EFFECTS OF AUGUST PRUNING 

 These poor results are the best 

 secured from August pruning ex- 

 periments to reduce wood and in- 

 crease fruit spurs. 



