Chaps

I got a new grapevine last winter, planted it inside the greenhouse and was told to let it go daft the first year. We got 4 bunches of grapes which was more than I expected.

Anyhow, it’s time to prune it (so I’ve heard) but has anyone any successful pruning strategy I could follow – online guides are both contradictory and poorly explained.

Anyone help before I just cut back all but one branch?

My partner has one growing – profuse fruit production last summer after she gave it a mild prune (*shrugs* if that’s the correct term). From what I remember she didn’t cut too much back, though I believe that fruit only grows on the shoots growing from the woody part of the previous years stems/branches, so don’t remove too much of that stuff.

They love a good dose of potassium when you’re entering the flowering (fruit) period.

Has it grown to the size you want yet?

If so, I would take out the ends now, then prune off all the unwanted growth, remember to do it in stages as they can bleed apparently.

If you still want it to spread, let it spread where you want it to, then trim and remove where you don’t want.

Once it leafs up and you see the fruit appear, trim off all the leafs a shoot past the fruit, I take off any none fruiting shoots to two leaves.

Nov-Dec is the time to hard purne them back, but I prefer to prune mine once they start to shoot so you can see and plan where you want them to go.

I have six different vines in my garden, never killed one yet 😉

Watch out for fungal disease if you you are growing in a greenhouse, never had much luck with them inside tbh.

When do you pick the fruit, Ski (there’s a yogurt pun in there somewhere)?

Last years crop was bitter as hell until they were almost shrivelling, then they turned sweet. Is this the way of the grape…?

IIUR it will be about to start growing, so will bleed a lot. Should have been done in Nov / Dec.

(edit) and the one I know about is lowered downwards for a more even bud break

Thanks, I think – so pretty much, chop it to fit, kill the bits that don’t suit!

Without pics, and with all the other caveats, cut it back to a single rod along the line of the glasshouse. The shoots that come sideways from this will have the flowers and fruit. This rod should be about horizontal.

There is a lot to learn about growing grapes. I gave up and moved on some years ago. Unsuitable variety outside, netting wasn’t an option, birds always got the fruit first.

As you seem to have firsthand experience and I didn’t get an answer from Ski, I’ll ask you, Slowoldgit.

When is the best time to pick the fruit – as above, it wasn’t until they were very old and almost too far gone that they became palatable.

IME – just before the birds eat them. Seriously, what variety is it? If it’s a wine grape it will peak with a certain ratio of sugar : acid, and you may have made a wrong choice. Mine was a wine grape. I’ve helped grow eaters elsewhere.

Things you can do to help – thin the grape bunches using pointy scissors, take out the little ones and those on the inside of the bunch. This should help prevent mildew and get you bigger grapes. In the summer remove any leaves that cast major shadows on the bunches so they get more sunlight.

If the older leaves have yellow bands around them, the plant is short of magnesium, water with Epsom salt, mag. sulphate. The yellow leaves will be short of chlorophyll so won’t make all the sugar that they should.

There’s a lot to it, and it’s been some time. As with so many things, the more you put in…

Oh, mag sulphate – carton of Epsom Salt from a garden place, half a cup in a watering can, fill and stir, water root area. Probably worth doing anyway once the leaves start unfolding.

TBH, I have no idea what variety it is and she’s not in the country right now.

But thanks for the other tips regarding the nutrient requirements, I’ll pass it on. It’s not a serious project, just a bit of fun and experimentation.