what do I do to my grape vines to prepare them for winter?

Question

in order to produce more grapes next summer

Answer 1

If your vines are not dormant yet and have some green leaves. Then this is an excellent time to fertilize. Nothing to complicated a simple fertilizer with the numbers 8-16-8 or something close to that will work fine. If they are dormant no worries you can do a little work on the soil by getting some good compost and mixing it in the soil around the vines. If you don't want to buy fertilizer then you can use natural sources like manure, compost, yard waste, etc. These will all benefit the vines.
After the vines are all the way dormant, in the winter months this is when you do your pruning. Pruning will help set you up for next years crop! If you need help with pruning styles and tips let me know, I can help you out if I had more info on what you have going on. Good luck

Answer 2

Grapes only grow from new branches. So, you have to set up a plant structure with the old branches that fosters growth of new shoots.

The way wineries prepare their vines is to have a main trunk going up about 3 feet, with two sets of side arm branches growing out about 4 feet long. Two of these branches are coming out of the top of the trunk and the other two are about a foot below the top branches. They then set 4-foot stakes out at the end of each pair of branches and run wire at the level of the branches for them to trellis onto.

Once the side branches have been formed, trellised, and cut at the end (about the third year of plant growth), shoots will grow from the buds of the side branches. Let these grow thoughtout the summer and into late fall/early winter. At this point, cut each of those newer branches such that you leave two buds on each branch (about 3-4 inches). These buds will produce fruit the next year.

Each subsequent year, repeat the step above where you cut last year's growth back to two buds. Each year, these new buds will develop fruit.

Answer 3

These sites should help.

http://mtvernon.wsu.edu/frt_hort/grape_pruning_basics.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_172725_prune-grape-vine.html