Help with Positioning Grapevines

[Samurailord]

Hi all

I have just been offered two mature grape vines by a friend.

He has had them in his greenhouse for several years but had decided that he no longer wants them, and has offered them to me.

They are currently sat in a dustbin full of water waiting for me to get somewhere to put them, but never having grown grapes before I am unsure of how to give them the best possible chance of survival.

Can anyone give me some advice - I need to know if they need constant full sun or if they can tolerate some shade - do they like rich, manured soil, well drained or dry, how much space do they need and tips on pruning.

I don't have a greenhouse to put them in, so they will have to go into a raised bed outside.

Thanks

Andy

[FB.]

Grapes aren't fussy about soil because they will send roots a long way down into the soil to find what they need, but they as much warmth and sunshine as possible to make the grapes ripen.
Last year, even on a South-facing warm sunny wall my grapes were pea-sized and worthless due to there being too many cool cloudy days.

At this time of year grapes will be in full growth. If they are large and mature and your friend has just dug them out I would expect them to suffer extreme shock and possibly death.

Now is the worst time to move fruit plants. Mid-winter is the best time.

Given the high risk of them not recovering from being moved at exactly the worst possible time, I would not waste too much effort on a dedicated place for them until you see signs of life next spring. Planting them into a hot, full-sun spot (so that fruit ripens properly in future years) with their damaged roots may stress them even further. So until they go dormant for the winter I'd keep them somewhere relatively cool and part-shaded to help them recover.

[Samurailord]

At this time of year grapes will be in full growth. If they are large and mature and your friend has just dug them out I would expect them to suffer extreme shock and possibly death.

Now is the worst time to move fruit plants. Mid-winter is the best time.

...... So until they go dormant for the winter I'd keep them somewhere relatively cool and part-shaded to help them recover.

Thanks for the reply FB.

I am not looking to move them from the dustbin until the end of the season - where they are currently is in shade and in a sheltered corner, so I hope they will survive, but if they don't then I haven't really lost too much.

Andy

[veggiechicken]

Why don't you pot them into compost bags for now. Then you can plant them out when they're dormant - rather than keeping their roots in water until then.