Q. Hello Peter, I have four grape vines, about eight feet long, that I planted a year ago. I want to have them fill in a grape arbor. Right now they are full of small leaves all along the vine. My question is, “What do I do to get the vines to spread out over the top of the arbor?” I seem to remember reading that cutting off these leaves is one way to do it, but I am concerned about harming the vines. Vincent Troccoli – Edgewood,WA
A. From your question I am assuming you are trying to increase the length of the vines so that they span the top of your arbor and want to limit side growth (laterals). The best way to do this is to pinch back lateral growth that is not contributing to the vines vertical growth up and over the arbor. But it is best to leave four or five leaves on the lateral and pinch just above them. This allows these leaves to contribute energy to the plant without the drain of having an active growing point at the end. Since the lateral growth has just started you may need to wait until the five leaves appear before pinching out the laterals growing point.