Anyone have experience with grapes?

[The Goat]

We bought our property last year, and we had these awesome grape vines already in place. They were already covered in grapes in June when we got here and produced a pretty good amount of grapes. My mother-in-law trimmed them back in the fall, way too far I thought, and I was sure she killed them.

This spring they finally sprouted again and we have some great looking vines. However the vines are missing 1 thing, GRAPES! I found 1 cluster of grapes in early June and that is it. Now all we have are vines. Where did my grapes go!

[TnAndy]

One......she pruned them back too far, and the growth that would have produced grapes got pruned away. Don't worry.....just don't trim as much this winter, and they'll be back next spring.....the vine simply had to grow this year.

Two.....you could have gotten hit with a late frost that killed off the blooms, and this year's grapes.

Three....the two above are the most likely, but you could have gotten a disease, like a fungus, but they generally show up AFTER grapes set, and turn the young fruit to a mess you wouldn't want to eat.

[jen74145]

For what I understand, grapes grow on year-old wood. So, next year.

Ours... we've always left be and they've been fine. Course, our experience goes as far as planting our own, moving five years later, and then having to care for a seriously neglected, old vine at a new house for one summer. We just watered and fed the sad old thing and pruned in the fall- it looked great this year when we left, but only one bunch of grapes on a branch we didn't cut.

[happybluebird]

There are some good You Tube videos about pruning grapes correctly.

[northergardener]

I lost all my grapes to the late frost this year.
I don't know anyone in this area that has grapes.

[Cliff]

Late frost here too, no grapes

[GammyAnnie]

I have 40 year old vines, trunks thicker than a big man's wrist, never have I ever trimmed them back. I did make a hoop arbor for them this spring out of cattle panels as they were pulling down the fence they have been growing on.

They are loving the new arbor, new growth has been significant this year, which means more grapes in the next couple of years.

Basically your MIL cut them back to much, don't let her do that again!

Annie

[motdaugrnds]

I agree with other posters, they simply got trimmed back too far. Not knowing what your vineyard looked like before trimming, it might have been the best option as you can now better control how you want them to run.

Here we had a mild winter, early frost, moist/hot spring and extreme heat that worked hard to destroy my little vineyard. Last year was good; but the squirrels took the bulk! This year I have squirrel feeders in place and the weather bothered them. Presently we have the vines at one end of the vineyard with marble-size grapes doing well; other end of the vineyard the grapes are smaller with black dots on them. (This was just a bad year!)

[The Goat]

Thanks guys! It's really important as I have a buddy that made us some wine from last years haul and 1 glass gets my wife very intoxicated! Not sure I have enough to last without some more grapes!

[springvalley]

Have you guys ever seen the vinyards that grow grapes for wine? They are pruned back every year, as should most grapes. I have always pruned grapes, and they grow fine. I had neighbors that had grapes that didn`t yield any grapes, and after I pruned them back for them, they produced grapes very well. Yes you can grow grapes without pruning, and yes they may do fine. But most grapes should be pruned a little every year. > Thanks Marc

[Maura]

We had a lovely Concord grape vine that monstered out. Being the bad person I am, I cut them way back, leaving about a 4' tall plant. When they flowered again, we had an incredible amount of grapes. Lots of jelly. What you have are plants with an expansive root system. Once they put out top growth, you should have a wonderful harvest of grapes.

[motdaugrnds]

Maura, you cut "all" your grape vines back to "one" 4' tall plant? Are you calling the "vines" a "plant" in that your "plant" is made up of quite a few vines that can start growing again?

I don't understand how cutting an entire grape vine all the way back to only one 4' vine would not kill it. That 4' on my little vineyard is "not" putting out any vines; so if I were to cut all the top growth/vines off above 4 ft, I believe I'ld lose my entire plant. Am I wrong?

[ksfarmer]

Grapes need pruning to get the best production and healthy plants. This publication from Kansas State Extension service is very good . http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf635.pdf

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Cliff

Late frost here too, no grapes

And here too! No apples, nor peaches and 20 bluberries

We covered for the first 2 frosts, and sprayed at 4 am the next too.

We had plenty of blossoms, but we needed to brush the pollen on manually.

We found out way to too late, but the trees look stronger than ever.

[salmonslayer]

We lightly prune every year and are awash in grapes. We planted our vines in 2010 and picked these (20lbs) today from our sweet whites (a type of Concord) to make jelly. The vines took a pounding from the 100 degree plus weather (even though we irrigate) but the grapes are just as sweet as last year. Now our red grapes? Not worth even harvesting, they are all dried up and look terrible.



Once we cleaned them we boiled them for about 10 minutes and then drained the juice through cheesecloth for tomorrows jelly making. It seems like everything happens at once, we are processing corn and cauliflower right now and are looking at a huge tomato glut in the next day or so.