Grapes

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Wez

Landlord.
Joined
Jul 27, 2008
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The grape vines that we put in 3 years ago have fruited properly for the first time this year and the grapes look almost ready to pick, not a bumper harvest but enough to munch on for a week or two.

At the end of last year I cut it back to about 2.5ft and it's climed up to about 12 ft :shock:

Does anyone know the 'proper' after fruit care for grape vines as I'm sure my just hack it back approach is probably wrong :oops:

So calling those green fingered forumee's we have - what do you think?

Cheers, Wez
 
Wez, grapes grow well with a post and wire assembly. 2 strong braced posts with 3 wires, the top one about 5 feet high, 5 feet between plants. Place a strong cane near to the plant but be mindful of the root system. Cut back the main stem to 3 buds which will produce 3 shoots. Tie 2 of these horizontally to the lower wire either side of the main shoot cutting this back to 3 buds, This should be done in the autumn. O f the 3 new shoots in the summer train 2 to the second wire horizontally and again reduce the leader to 3 buds.Continue this for the 3rd summer/wire.



Depending on grape variety and your location restrict the buds on the horizontal stems to 3,4 or 5 buds, These buds should then be allowed to grow vertically and trimmed when they reach the top wire. The bottom shoots will bear the fruit after which they should be cut off to allow the 2nd row to produce the following summer, and so on You can also increase the size of the grape by taking a pair of long nosed scissors and cutting out some of the newly formed fruit, allowing the others to swell.

Don't think i've missed anything.

Hope it all makes sense

Alltime consuming, but imo well worth the effort.

Good luck.

jb.
 
Thats exactly what I was after - many thanks :D :clap:
 
Cheers jb, an excellent tutorial on vitniculture (eh!). I managed to grow grapes badly at my previous house. At my new house, my current vines have just completed their first year, so next year I'm in with a chance of some grapes...Never knew how to prune them though..So I'll give this a try.
 

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