Grape vine

[alysonh56]

I have a grape vine in a large pot in my polytunnel. It's inherited in that the allotment is my sister in law's and I think the vine predates her. The soil is very compacted and probably has never been changed. However I think the pot is too big to move and is metal! I put tomato feed in last year and got a few rather sour grapes. Any suggestions for looking after it.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alisonh56, firstly, a very warm welcome to the forum.....
Regarding the grapevine, if you can scrape a little of the old soil off from the top of the pot, so that you are able to get a couple of inches of soil or good compost on top, this will help hugely. If the soil is too hard or full of roots, is there anyway you can extend the sides of the pot up a little, this would then allow you to add extra soil too....

[alysonh56]

Thanks - there is space so I'll get some compost and perhaps also some horse muck on. There are horses next door so I get plenty! I also started to look at training them earlier but I was just about to come home so I'll take another look over the weekend.

[peter]

I assume you're aware not to prune except when dormant?