feeding a grapevine

[the big lebowski]

hi all i have i have a new grapevine (planted last year ) and its growing very well ,its doubled in hight already and i`ve started training the branches horizontaly on my wires ,i was wondering what you all do for a feed ? i have mulched it twice with soil from my compost bins ,any thoughts welcome ,cheers

[TheBouncingBogTrotterr]

I've never fed ours. It is in the border trained against our 6 foot fence and gets pruned every year, a very hard prune back to the main stem and the 2 lateral branches. It is a muscadet grape grown from a cutting. We also take out a number of bunches each year otherwise it would probably collapse.

[Snoop Puss]

Is it in a pot or in the ground?

[Thelma Sanders]

I gave mine a small handful of Miracle Gro slow release granules in the spring and raked it in.

[the big lebowski]

its in the ground snoop, ok thelma thx ill try some of that then ,cheers

[Jay-ell]

Tomato feed should do - it needs high potassium to form the woody vines as well as flowers and fruit. Nitrogen is also needed but too much nitrogen and it may have a growth spurt resulting in (too) long spaces between nodes and therefore next years lateral fruiting branches.

Other options may include a BFB top dressing, mulching with comfrey or feeds of comfrey tea.

How are you looking to train yours? Are you going for permanent laterals (spur pruning) or renewing them each year (cane pruning)?.. I'm going for a weird system where mine will have both.

[roitelet]

Never feed mine apart from a bit of wood ash now and again and I have more grapes than I can use or give away!

[Jay-ell]

How much is a bit and how often do you apply it? What's your soil Ph? Woodash is alkaline and can mess with the soils Ph if too much is used at a go.

[the big lebowski]

im going to grow it straight up and grow 3 rows horizontaly (left and right ) on my wires ,the plant will get to about 5-6 foot then be cut ,tomato feed is no probs i have some of that ,how often should i feed it ? once every 2 weeks sound ok ?

[Snoop Puss]

Well, vines are a big thing here and are not fed. They put down really deep roots if they're in the ground, so don't need feeding. I did come across one man who fed his once in the last ten years. He gave them a single NPK balanced feed at the beginning of the year and that was it. I've never seen anyone else do that. I suspect he was persuaded to do it by the fast-talking agricultural supplies merchant here... If you do want to feed it, do it just once when it starts to grow in spring.

[the big lebowski]

ok great stuff snoop thanks , ive heard they put down a really deep tap root and ill keep mulching ,thx everyone

[Jay-ell]

I have to admit that I haven't fed mine, although the one closest to the compost bin does seem to be doing better

[Ocelot]

Are yours a bit small this year? I'm sure my grapes were larger this time last year.

[Jay-ell]

Didn't let them get grapes last year. There's a few small bunches on them this year though. And I mean small. Will pull most of them off when I'm certain that the berries have set.

[bikermike]

I inherited a vine in my greenhouse, I suspect it's roots go down far enough to come up in Australia... I don't feed it. best result is about 3kg of grape. It's probably getting on for 20 years old, must take a cutting for eventual replacement - took one last year, but gave it to my parents

Re pruning, I cut mine back to a single lateral stalk every year.

I am trying pruning the individual grape bunches this year. 2 years ago I tried cutting out bunches and just got less weight of grape, so I'm hoping I'll get bigger grapes this year.

They do seem pretty slow, but it has been very dry of late.