I have read as many posts as I can, and am still not sure how to proceed. We have a three acre fenced garden with grape vines growing on the fence. The fruiting wood, such as it is, is up at the top of the fence (8 feet!) The weight of the vines is bringing the fence down. I would like to save both the grapes and the fence. But in fact, the fence is more important. Two weeks ago, I read as many posts as I could, then went out and cut off all the branches from 1/8 of the fence and pulled them from the fence. The grape vines -- what's left of them -- are four to five inch (in diameter) trunks about two feet high-- with no branches at all. There was no way to save branches. Have I killed the vines? Or will the trunks regrow branches? In the best of all possible worlds, I would like to train two branches per side to grow along the joint in the two segments of fence. (At the four foot level) I will replant new grapes that I can properly train if need be -- but I would like to save something of the old grapes. These vines have grown wild from planted stock -- I'll worry about what we have later!) for years and years -- probably 20. I tried following links that seemed to relate to my problem to no avail. There is no way to save one year old growth for a crop this year -- the new growth was al least 30 feet away from the trunk.
Hopefully you haven't chucked the prunings yet? Your remaining trunks may push some dormant buds and survive, but there are a few other things you can do to increase your chances. Take some of your cuttings (7-10mm is the best range) and try to root them. This is a sort of "stop loss" as the variety will survive in your garden but it will take years to establish. You can also try "top working" the stumps using the cuttings from each plant. see: http://berrygrape.oregonstate.edu/an-illustrated-guide-to-field-grafting-grapevines/ Other grafting methods (such as cleft grafting) can also work; whatever you are most comfortable with. If the trunks do push their own buds and form new shoots, then you can allow them to grow and remove the grafted parts, but if they fail to push their own buds the grafts can save the day. Ralph
Thank you so much for your help! Given the size of our garden and the number of grape vines, we have lots of material remaining to make grafts from, and those vines that were taken down yesterday have been outside at about 34 degrees in a light rain. I will collect material today, continuing as we prune. I will also take pictures as this mamouth project takes shape. From reading the USB site thus far, we are not the only people with run-away grapes, our experience may help others. Also, this will be a fun project that will allow us to learn something new! Thanks again!
Hello Charistides, Wished my grape vines were as old as yours.You don't mention the variety of grapes that you have,but a vine of that size if pruned properly has the potential for 40 or 50 pounds of fruit maybe even more.It is really difficult to actually kill a vine ,cutting back to the trunk like you,ve done will slow it down for a season but it will send out new shoots eventually, that you can retrain.the vine is quite tall ,I'd take advantage of that and train it to grow on an overhead trellis system,so that the grapes hang down overhead. Dan
