What to do with grape vine.

[cheops]

There have been previous posts regarding grapevines so please bear with me. No matter how much I read on the subject I get confused. Can someone please respond in very simple language what I should do now with my vine and what I should do in the future.
It’s a free standing vine about high waist height. It has one small bunch of little flowers/grapes. Leaders from the vine are sprawling out -about 14 of them and some are over a metre long. Although the vine is close to a shed side in a warm sheltered sunny position - the vine is free standing. I just need straightforward advice. For example should I remove some leaves to let the full sun on the young bunch of grapes. Should I remove some of the sprawling leaders now. Obviously I know nothing about this subject so please simple instructions for now and the future. Thank you.

[Thelma Sanders]

First of all give it something to grow along, against, or it will struggle to support itself. Perhaps put in some fence posts with wire strung between?

I'd then choose which leaders are best positioned for training along the wires, cut off the others completely. If the grapes are totally shaded thin out the leaves that are shading them by about half. they don't want to be totally shaded nor baking all day.

[nickdub]

Because its a vine it doesn't come with a natural shape like a bush or a tree would.

As Thelma said it needs support, either something to grow up or over.

You could build a support with post and wires and tie it to that. You could build an archway or pergola and let it clamber over the top of it. You could lay the main stem (trunk) flat on the ground until it gets to the shed you mentioned then train it against the shed wall by tying the rods to nails etc.


Other people have succeeded in growing grapes for fruit outside, but for myself I wouldn't attempt this where I live, so unless you fancy building the vine its own greenhouse, I'd regard it as a purely ornamental endeavor.

[Jay-ell]

As mentioned above you need to support it with some structure. The most common structure is some type of trellis - wither side of fence/shed or alond wires strung horizontally between 2 supports.

You can, however, grow it as a standard. Putting a tree support in next to it (will probably damage some of the roots though) and tying it in. You could fix a bike wheel/cart wheel to the top for the laterals to drape over.

The vine could be trained to the top of the support and laterals spread out and allowed to drape. To do this around February prune out the other laterals leaving the strongest best positioned lateral to tie up the post cutting it back to where it is the thickness of a pencil (or just below the top if it's longer).

My vines are young and I'm training them to a fence. I've read that the grapes need some shade from the afternoon sun but can have some sun in the morning to help ripen. Haven't got to that stage yet with half my vines. For the length of the shoots they need to be long enough to support the development of the grapes - about 4 foot in length with around 15 leaves.

I'd leave the shoots on as they will build up food for storage over the winter so that the vine will be able to come back quick and have enough grown next year to train into the shape you want.

p.s. have you read this http://www.my-grape-vine.com/blog/su...g-grape-vines/

[cheops]

Thank you big time those who have answered. I hope I have got this correct. Firstly don’t prune anything till February. In February cut back all laterals except those I want to support left and right. The vine is practically against the end of the shed so I can use vine hooks in the shed and use wire between the hooks to tie the laterals I’m keeping. The shed is not wide so the laterals will have to be kept quite short though I reckon I could turn them round the front of the shed. As for successfully growing grapes on this vine i’m reasonably confident the vine will be successful as where I live is a micro climate which is very similar to London. In fact there is an historic house owned by the national trust close by which has a garden which is rated one of the top ten in the U.K. thanks to this micro climate.
Thanks everyone - you have all been a great help.

[Deltawhiskey]

Hi Cheops,
Jay-ell’s advice is good. There are as many ways of training a grapevine as there are different vines. First of all how long has the vine been growing and what variety. One shouldn’t let it crop until it’s third year to let it establish a good root system first. It can carry a crop if the vine has the thickness of a pencil for four feet. It is normally recommended that in the first year only one shoot should be allowed to grow and from this a training system can be formed. There are two basic methods of pruning - cane replacement and spur pruning. In cane replacement a new replacement cane is grown each year. In spur pruning the fruited canes are cut back to two or three buds. The main thing to remember is the grapes will only grow on last years wood. Without the effort of putting in a trellis as Jay-ell said you can grow the vine against a stout post it could be as a cordon for spur pruning as they do with some fruit trees or cane replacement. Check out Moselle loop training on line.
I hope this does not confuse you too much, but there is a huge amount of information with diagrams on the internet.

David

[cheops]

Thanks Deltawhiskey —-the vine[main stem] is only about 18 inches high then like a standard rose woody shoots going off in all directions. However the thickness of the main stem is at least 3 times that of a pencil. This is the second year I have had it and the first year it produced the beginning of one bunch of grapes. It’s a black grape called Vitis Barbara. I still have the label. It says ‘cut side shoots back to 2-3 buds in Winter and remove all weak shoots’. By this I understand in Winter cut back the side shoots I want to train along a wire to 2-3 buds but what about the other shoots I don’t want? Should I cut them back close to the few woody forks they are coming from and keep cutting them and any others as they try to grow throughout the summer?

[Thelma Sanders]

During the growing season, laterals should be trained and tied along the nearest horizontal wire. If the lateral is not required, then prune back to one leaf

Pruning Grape Vines - Step-by-Step Guide

[Deltawhiskey]

Hi Cheops,
If you are training along vine eyes you will probably be spur pruning. In winter choose your strongest cane or if you have the space two canes. Cut these back to ripe wood (brown in the centre green cambium ring). Bend these canes down and fix them horizontally onto the wires. Your new growth and grapes will come from the buds along the canes. At the end of the growing season in winter cut the season’s growth back to three buds and your new growth and grapes will come from those buds. If the vine is younger than four years only allow it to bear three or four bunches. Later you can allow up to two bunches on each season’s new canes.
Hope this helps
David

[the big lebowski]

heres my vine its its 2nd year up the plot



im training the 1st horizontal branches on it atm ,cheers