When to prune grapevines?
- Botanical name
- Vitis vinifera
- Family
- Vitaceae
Grapevines are pruned from February to March. They are planted from October to March. They are harvested from August to October.
Grapevines are woody perennials. The edible parts are the leaves, flowers and fruit.
Pruning removes most of last year's growth. It is done once the winter damage shows, and the same cut clears it away. The work ends before the sap rises, because a vine in leaf bleeds after a cut.
All the flowers are taken off in the first and the second year. In the third and fourth only a few bunches are left, and the full crop follows after that. The growth of those years goes into the framework and not into fruit.
The vine needs a cold winter, because without a spell of cold it does not flower. It is therefore left uncovered. Frost destroys the young shoots as they break in spring, so a vine is not planted in a frost pocket.
Grapevines through the year
- pruning
- planting
- harvest
In short
Growing conditions
The fruit is listed as edible and as toxic at once. The toxicity is to cats and dogs, not to people.
Are grapevines toxic to cats and dogs?
Yes. Toxic to cats and dogs, toxic part: fruit.
Companions in the bed
Companion planting is tradition and not an agronomic claim. What is recorded is which pairs sources recommend and which they advise against.
- “Cited” means the pair is named by one source or two.
Pests and diseases
Listed here is every problem for which the sources name this plant as a host. The problems are not listed in order of how common they are.
- Signs
- Yellow, oily blotches show on the upper side of the leaf, with a white cottony coating beneath them. In a heavy attack the leaf drops and the bunch is left without the foliage that would feed it.
- Prevention
- The measure is everything that dries the foliage and the bunches: thinning and training the shoots, taking the leaves out of the fruiting zone, an airy sunny site, and the ground under the vine mown short. The shade of a neighbouring tree is a factor, not a detail.
- What to do
- Copper remains the most reliable class against downy mildew and the fungus has not built up resistance to it. It works as a preventive and not on a leaf that is already affected.
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Related plants
The plant below is in the same botanical family (Vitaceae).
Sources about the plant: Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, GBIF Backbone Taxonomy, Merck Veterinary Manual, NC State Extension Plant Toolbox, Royal Horticultural Society, University of Maryland Extension, Utah State University Extension, Wikidata. Checked between 14 and 17 August 2026. The problem descriptions also draw on: Clemson Cooperative Extension, EPPO Global Database, Penn State Extension.