I moved into a house with established table grape vines. They grow up to about 5 feet, then spread along a T-shaped trellis. The vines are very vigorous, and the old trellis has broken. Can I build a taller trellis?
I would want to train the older vines to grow up onto it so I can walk underneath. If I keep the vines at the current height, do I need to keep pruning new growth all summer?
Yes — you can train and prune established table grape vines onto a new trellis. How you do it depends on your goals and how tall you want the new structure to be.
For table grapes, most people prefer fruit at a comfortable picking height — typically about 4 to 6 feet. A much taller trellis — for example, 8 to 10 feet over a seating area — can make harvesting difficult. It can also create a mess in the area below when ripe fruit drops.
Start by building the new support system. Once you know where you want the vines to grow, you can choose which canes or trunks to keep for training.
Winter pruning
During winter pruning, select the canes you want to keep for fruiting, tie them to the support, and remove the rest.
Summer pruning
Summer pruning is not about constant cutting back. The main purpose is to improve light penetration to the fruit and air circulation in the canopy after fruit has set.
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