Grapes

[Westi]

Been working on improving my grape harvest so this year I focused on controlling which vines/bunches to leave etc. I certainly got more grapes but all tiny & didn't swell, so cut them all off to give the plants a rest. I wore out my welcome with our grape vineyard guy asking questions & he's harvested & gone anyway, so thought I throw this out to you wise ones.

The grapes are both eaters not for wine, one black & one white & been in for about 15yrs, beautiful gnarly trunks. In all this time I have never fed them as way back read the roots go really deep & don't need it, but think I should feed them to boost the size of the grapes now I can control the foliage - any idea what? (That is along the lines of they like tomato feed not the NKP stuff); or shouldn't I? Also Mr vineyard man put sheeps wool under his vines, not from the off but last couple of months, certainly not needed as a mulch with all the rain we have had but would this be to increase the soil temp for some reason?

Remember Pawty who was being trained up by her in laws to take over the families vineyard in Hants? I could do with her expertise now!

[tigerburnie]

Never grown them, but I well remember the advice of burying a dead sheep under a vine, never sure if this was a wind up or not and I have also heard of putting wool round them, but again no idea why. Funnily enough the RHS don't mention sheep at all lol
https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/grapes/grow-your-own

[peter]

Perhaps the RHS are being Baaashful?

[oldherbaceous]

I think the wool is to suppress any weeds, and also releases a small amount of nutrients!
I think most grapevines are grown on shallow, poor ground, so not sure about the need for feeding….I wonder if it is more down to crucial watering as the grapes are forming.

[Westi]

Thanks for the link Tiger, really useful.

First they urgently need a feed, poor sods have never had one so no wonder they aren't performing & they will also get a nice duvet of my compost in compensation. They are also fully exposed on the western side as only secured on 2 fence wires, the fruit trees shield them from the easterlies on the other side. I am thinking maybe a couple of those woven fence panels so they let the wind through a bit but don't blow away & I have a narrow bed on that side of the wire so no moving things. Looks like my kind neighbour will be called upon to sort that, but with Xmas coming he will be grateful & I even have some fast dry concrete in the shed to make it easier for him. That will leave the other side of the fencing for some climbers or something.

Cheers again!

[tigerburnie]

Over the years I've picked up all sorts of information(mostly useless ) but when I was a moderator on another gardening forum I picked up a lot of sources of good info when I didn't know myself what the likely answer was, I kept all the links on my computer, sadly I now have a new computer so lost a lot of that info.

[Primrose]

Years ago we had a green grape vine - can't remember the name of the grape now which produced prolifically for wine but the grape sizes were tiny and also edible on a sweetness level. I tried trimming some grapes from a few bunches to see if that msde them grow bigger but it didn't seem to make much difference.

The only feed they ever got during the fruit producing season was Tomorite which didn't seem to do them any harm!

I suspect the size of the grapes partly depends on the varieties Westi and it ifs one which produces small sized fruit, feeding the vine may not make. a huge difference to that.

[Westi]

Thanks Primrose, but I hope the size improves. Both are quite sweet, the white in particular, but the black I particularly like as it has a tang to it as well. They were initially bigger than then they are now but still small which I put down to immaturity. When the weather improves I will give them so TLC. I looked at the price of one of those woven fence panels to give it some protection but too pricey, so planning to have a chat to my neighbour who is a real collector to see if he has a normal panel & will get him to concrete it in for stability, I'm also toying with the idea of drilling some holes in it for when we have a proper big blow.