Dying grape vine?

Posted: Sun May 10, 2020 11:26am

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Classic man

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This is outside my usual sphere of operations so help is needed.

We planted a white grape vine at the side of the house about 10 years ago when we bought the place. It has grown very well over a metal frame attached to the side wall. Over the years we have had loads of lovely grapes from it. It extends over about 20ft on a number of branches.

A couple of years ago it was getting very leggy so I trimmed it back into shape (I am no expert in this) and as expected we did not get many grapes last year. The growers round here cut their vines virtually down to the floor every year.

This year it has woken up from its winter slumbers and all but one branch is dead, not a sign of life and the ends snap off. The branch that is growing looks fine.

So what has gone wrong and what is the best way forward from this point?

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Posted: Sun May 10, 2020 3:34pm

jimtaylor

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Posted: Sun May 10, 2020 3:34pm

We had a grape vine which spanned 30 metres and produced about 40 kilos of grapes a year, but unfortunately it got a virus so I had to take it out.

Only one branch growing sounds ominous, but I don't know what caused that. It just might have been something getting into the pruning cuts, but I doubt it, unless you did the pruning before the leaves had fallen.

All you can do is cut out the dead wood. Let the good stem grow without interference, to hopefully build up a framework for the future, then you can train it in to the metal frame.

For pruning, wait until the leaves have fallen in the autumn.

I used to decide what stems I didn't want, and then cut them off close to the stem they were growing from.

For the rest, you need to be fairly brutal. Apart from the main stems you're training in, cut all the rest back close to the stem they're growing from, leaving just two or three buds on them.

If, say, you've got a bit you've pruned that is about 6 mm diameter or more, cut off the tip so it's about 30 cm long. Stick it in a pot of compost. Do that with as many spare pots you have, and some of them will take root the following year. I used to give them away to friends. Unfortunately I gave them all away, whereas I should have saved one for myself.

I think the reason the vineyards cut them back to virtually nothing is because they want grapes for wine, and they'd rather have a small number of grapes with lots of flavour, rather than a lot of grapes that wouldn't be suitable for wine making.