Wondering if someone could help me...my mother and father passed away late in 2005 and my dad had taken the time to splice into his very mature grapevine and create a starting plant for myself...unfortunately I was unable to transplant the vine last year and now with their passing we just sold the home and at the very last minute I remembered the grapevine in the backyard...pruned it back slightly as it was about three feet in height...dug around it uprooted and brought it home with me....placed it in a prepared spot with new top soil watered it and staked it...a week has now gone by and the leaves are beginning to yellow and fall off the vine...very worried that I may lose this vine and with the emotional attachment I have to it want to do everything i can to preserve it so please help if you can...some have said to mulch, some have said to prune it right back not sure what to do...does it stand a chance to survive or is it on its way out....
Hello, I have read that some people have a great deal of difficulty transplanting grapevines. I have not done so myself, however, I will describe some of the procedures required for successful transplanting. A number of things could have gone wrong during the process. It is good that you cut back the vine, as this will take into account the loss of roots. However, it may necessary to reduce the leaf surface even more. Remove a number of shoots, leaving a few healthy shoots on the plant. When transplanting, it is best to minimize the amount of disturbance to the roots by digging a large root ball with plenty of soil so that the roots remain intact and do not dry up during transportation. Now that you have the plant at your house, there are a couple things that you can check. Firstly, be sure that the base of the plant it not lower in the soil than it was at it's previous site. You can usually tell by visually checking. Often the way the plant flares, or soil marks on the stem are a good indication of the depth at which the plant should be planted. If you have planted too deeply, raise the plant up to the correct level. Continue to water regularly until the roots reestablish, after which far less water will be required. With the shoots that you have removed I would attempt to propagate them. Here is a link which describes how to take cuttings. It recommends taking cuttings in the winter, however, in this case you have no choice. If you are successful the plants will be clones of the plant that your parents grew. Good luck. Raakel
