How can I keep my grape vines from bleeding if I prune now? February 8, 2006
Question How can I keep my grape vines from bleeding if I prune now?
Answer Grape vines can be pruned anytime during their dormancy. Early winter pruning results in far less bleeding the following spring. Vines that have been pruned in late winter will bleed rivers, but they are less susceptible to cold damage. Researchers agree that "bleeding" does not hurt the grape vine, but cold damage can. So, prune later in the winter when possible.
Keep in mind that grape vines do not have blood or a heart. They are merely oozing sap. Maple trees ooze sap up North. We condense it, call it syrup and put it on our pancakes. Maple blood on our pancakes just doesn't have the same appeal.
Most grape vines grown from Virginia to Florida are muscadine grapes. These grapes are native and need to be pruned every year to ensure good production. Grapes are borne on vines formed the previous year (two-year and older wood is not fruitful). Unpruned vines will have a yield that usually alternates annually (heavy year then a light year). Pruned vines will consistently produce high numbers of larger grapes.
A correctly pruned vine will consist of the trunk, permanent arms, and the fruiting spurs. The trunk is the vertical part that comes out of the ground. The permanent arms are the limbs that lay on the trellis. The fruiting spurs are last year's vines that have been whacked back to 4 or 5 inch nubs. Make sure the spurs have 2 to 4 buds per spur.
For hundreds of years, European folk healers cured skin and eye diseases using the sap of grape vines. Grape leaves were used to stop bleeding, pain and inflammation of hemorrhoids. Dried grapes (raisins) were given as treatments for consumption (tuberculosis), constipation and thirst.
Modern research has found a compound in grapes that has begun to back up some of the claims of the folk healers. The compound is resveratrol. This phenolic compound helps grape and other plants defend themselves against diseases. Researchers have found that resveratrol can be used to combat cancer, cholesterol, heart disease and inflammation. Unfortunately, modern researchers can not use folk healer research because it was performed on humans instead of mice.
Get the hand pruners out and give the grapes a haircut. Grapes have the power to heal themselves (and us). If you want more information about pruning grapes, then call me at 910-893-7533, write me at PO Box 1089, Lillington, NC 27546 or email me at gary_pierce@ncsu.edu More
info can be found on the web at http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC1403.htm I wonder how many different leaves were tested by European folk healers before they realized that grape leaves could be used on hemorrhoids. Hopefully, they never tested holly, poison ivy or saw grass leaves. | 
