pruning my well overgrown grapevine, grown outside against my fence.

[chris16940]

Good Morning,

I live in Ipswich, East Anglia and am looking for some practical guidance on how to trim back my grapevine, I am enclosing a picture of it. What I really need is someone who has practical experience of doing this, the books I have read really leave me confused.

I have got some supporting wires, not exactly taut, but they do the job, also would appreciate some guidance as how to shape it properly, it is 3 maybe 4 years old, and I hope the enclosed pics will help.

last year I did cut it back, without any guidance, so am really hoping there is a kind sould out there who can help me, would be great if they lived locally, I am prepared to pay for good advice, once I see something done, I can remember it.

Thank you for your help, I hope the pics came out ok. Chris Yarker.

[Scarlet]

The RHS guide is easy to understand.https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=286

That's what I try to follow...though they are very vigorous, during the summer months they can put out huge amounts of greenery that needs constant trimming to keep it under control.

[roitelet]

From the look of the stem it looks a lot older than 3-4 years. However, in the depths of winter when the vine is dormant reduce it to the number of stems that you have wires for, i.e. two each side. When it starts to grow next year keep on top of it by snapping off unwanted new growth.

Hope that helps.