Taming the vines

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My grapevines have been neglected for several years for a variety of reasons. Even so, last year there were lots of grapes, I fenced the few hens and then watched carefully for them to ripen and guess what, the coons and skunks got them all. Anyways, any ideas on the best way to "tame" the vines? They have rooted everywhere and they are really tangled. I am tempted to just cut them all back close to the ground and give them a year or so to grow back. The concord vines are really large and I would love to try to thin them so maybe I can get some grapes this year. (The coons and skunks have been thinned down courtesy of the neighbor and ds.)

[Shawna]

This is what we did last year. We had concords, actually only about three main vines, but they were SO overgrown, tangled and re-rooted...you name it. I just hacked at them. I left the main, large vines, and everything else got cut and pulled out. We had a huge pile of grapevines...and i mean huge. They grew back just fine last season. We had grapes until the japanese beetles went haywire. I have no clue how old these vines are, but the trunks of the vines are probably a good 6" across (thick).

We actually left alot that had rerooted, I just cut them off at the ground. This spring we'll be skimming that area with a dozer to get rid of some other unwanteds, so those will probably get pulled out then.

Good luck!!!
Shawna

[haypoint]

I have no idea how tangled up your vines are and at first thought cutting theeem back to near nothing seems extreme. There are proper methods of training grape vines and most homeowners leave far too much to grow, causing the vines to over produce, harming the plant. One solution would be to cut them back to a foot out of the ground, then put in heavy posts at each end or every 12-16 feet. Put up two or three strands of heavy galvanized wire. Then train the new growth along those wires. Google for photos of what you cut each season from then on. While you are at it, it might be nice to take last summer's new growth and get them to root. You could add to your grape crop or give to friends or sell at a Farmers Market. Google for rooting info and photos.

[Up North Louie]

There are concord vines the size of my wrist at my sister's place. We pruned back to nothin' and I built her an arbor about 25 feet long for two of them, and we trained two more along a t-post and wire affair. They now produce like mad. She made jelly and some wine. I tried the jelly and it was good. The wine won't be ready for a long time, but it doesn't matter to me since I had to quit drinking some years ago. But my recollections of concord wine run along the lines of Mad Dog 20/20 and other Highly Prized vintages... I doubt I am missing much...

Don

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We originally had the posts and wires but the vines really got out of control. It's good to read what others have done. I believe there are three or four varieties out there. I have it in written in my log book.
We love grape jelly and if I can sneak it (dh had to stop drinking), I would like to make more wine. I made some years back and it all got drank before it had aged. Two big batches side by side. One was really dry (yuck) although it was good as a wine cooler and the other was really smooooth and sweet. They both kicked you in the teeth if you weren't careful. One of my books said that the alcohol content can vary quite a bit, guess maybe! Somewhere I have a very simple grape juice recipe, yum.
If the ones that have rooted can be dug up and shared, I better be finding some people next to me that want grape vines!