The Meaning of Being Pruned

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The Pruning of a Grapevine

A grapevine that is not pruned will grow wildly, sprawling and spreading as much as possible. Unchecked, it will produce as many leaves and fruit as it can. You might think, more grapes is exactly what we want! However, an unpruned grapevine will grow more grapes than the vine can possibly support, leading to small, unevenly ripened grapes that lack the intensity and flavor needed to make a good-quality wine. Too many leaves lead to too much shade covering the fruit, limiting the amount of sun the grapes need in order to grow and ripen. It also means that airflow to the fruit is sparse, leading to diseases such as mildew and pest infestation. The branches may also break with the weight of more grape clusters than it can bear. An unpruned grapevine will become less and less productive over the years. Pruning helps the vine plant focus on a smaller amount of the best grapes possible, rather than a large amount of poor-quality grapes. Pruning also makes the vine into whatever shape the vinedresser desires. 

After the branches have produced fruit and harvested, they go through a season of dormancy, and it is during this time that they are cut back as close to the main vine as possible. This main vine, or trunk, is the permanent part of the grapevine that connects the roots to the branches. New branches will grow from the nubs that are left after being pruned, and the cycle continues each year. Any damaged or diseased branches will also be cut so that the plant doesn’t focus energy into them. About 90% of the branches on the grapevine must be pruned each season — a common mistake that vinedressers make is not pruning hard enough. The vinedresser should prune without any fear of hurting the vine, for he does it for the purpose of growing a healthier vine that increasingly produces high-quality fruit. The most fruitful branches on the vine are those which are exposed to light during the growing season, and grow as close to the trunk as possible. Grapevines are also produce the best quality fruit when supported by a trellis, which is a structure that the vine is tied to in order to promote air flow and sunlight reaching the grapes. 

The vinedresser is very deliberate in how he prunes his grapevine. If he prunes too early in the season, the winter frost will kill the new growth. Too late, and the new branches won’t grow fast enough to produce grapes by harvest. He must also think about how the new branches will grow in the next cycle and ensure that there will be enough sun and air to reach all of the fruit.

The Pruning of Us

We are most fruitful when we are regularly pruned, exposed to his light, growing as close to our Vine as possible, and attached to a support system, which is the Church. A grapevine doesn’t always have fruit or even leaves on it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not fruitful. Just like our spiritual lives, it must go through different seasons. Its pruning may look like its death, stripped of all its outward glory down to the bare cross of our Vine. But it is this death that must happen in order to produce life. Jesus is our Vine, the connector of the unseen roots, which is our Father, to us, the branches. Unfruitful branches are only good to be cut off and used as firewood. But fruitful branches are carefully pruned that we may be as productive and fruitful as possible, shaped however our Vinedresser desires. The branches cannot produce fruit by themselves, but they must be connected to the True Vine.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:1-2, 5