today you will learn how to prune your grave vines first notice that the vines need a support to climb on this can be why you're supported by posts like here but could also be a fence a trey or a pergola the pruning has to be done in fall as late as possible but before the snow comes here is the vine we will prune today using a marker ribbon to identify the branch not to cut can be a good help in the mess of the vines first i choose the main stem it is the strongest stem coming out of the ground i cut all the other stem coming out of the ground then i make a cleanup around the main stem by cutting off the extremities of the branches that prevent me from getting a good view of my i then remove the main stem identification ribbon to identify the four branches i will keep we have to choose four branches in total two on the left side and two on the right side i choose the one that will easily fit on each wire and i mark them i can now cut all the branches that do not have a ribbon when we cut a branch close to the main stem it is very important to let about one centimeter because the cut will dry out and could reach your main stem drying it out too then we can prune our four main branches by keeping only two to three buds for each you have to know that the vine will only give fruit on the newly grown shoe no fruit will come from the last year here is the first bud the second bud and the third one i will cut between the second and the third bar that was it the pruning is done next spring each bud will shoot new branches that will run through the wire laying the vines on the ground will help them to pass through the cold winters as the snow will insulate them with posts and wire as a support it is very easy to lay the vines down you just have to take the wire out of every hook unroll the wire at the last post and take it down some vines may need a rock or a weight to keep them on the soil the vines are now ready for the winter in spring we simply hang the wire back on the post and they are ready to grow