I have a very large Grape vine that just happened to come with the house my wife and I just purchased.We have never cared for a grape vine before but understand from the neighbors that this vine will product about 160 pounds of grapes. I would like to prune it for next year but I am not sure where to start I also understand that this vine may not have been pruned in the last few years. My wife has a concern about bugs on the vine as well for this vine covers our deck and is wraped around our railing We have been told that grape vines have a lot of earwigs in the summer so is there any pest control that can be applied to the vine to control this problem. Please advise with all the help you can Thank you John
Grapes are no better of worse than any other wraping vine (unlike some that will try to force roots or anchoring pads such as some ivy varieties that can disrupt structurally). Prune to suit yourself; the vine will recover from it's root reserves. Try to provide some replaceable supports for it to wrap and grow on as opposed to letting it wrap something that will be difficult or expensive to repair like a hand rail or structural support for a deck or roof. Keep the leaves cleared away in the fall, don't let anything important remained wrapped over the winter. An established vine will put out a stunning amount of growth in the spring and early summer. Unfortunately, if this weather keeps up some buds will break soon (if they haven't already) and these will likely be damaged by frost between now and April, but that's life! Ralph