Hi all, I have a grape vine that I just discovered was a grape vine (I didn't know what it was but felt it was attacking my peony tree so I hacked it up). Anyway, this grape vine is very hearty but now that I know what it is I would like to help it. There is no support for it and it is not near to any wall or railing so can you suggest how sturdy a support I will need? Also, I really hacked at it but it is still growing like a weed but with not fruit...how long will it take the fruit to come back?
It may want an arbour or trellis for support, but at any rate make it fairly sturdy because if your plant is growing like a weed it will quickly overtake and crush anything flimsy. I'm not sure how long it will take to fruit again, but if you want to force it, wait until it's grown up its support (whatever you use) and then go out, buy a Carbon Dioxide and powder type fire extinguisher, and let 'er rip. You'll have amazing large and abundant fruit next season. I know this sounds screwy, but my neighbor had a BBQ blow up on her, and she gassed it with a CO2-powder extinguisher to put it out. A large amount of the extinguishant ended up on my concordes, which I rinsed off after 2 or 3 days (I was on vacation) and the next season they grew like there was no tomorrow, had leaves the size of dolmade-wrappers, and threw giant, healthy bunches of fruit. It also completely cured the plants of thrips. Go fig. It might just be the act of threatening the plant that makes it do that, in which case you might get fruit next year anyways. I always used to prune severely as well, since this helped growth and production.
Wow, wierd! Thank you for your help, I don't know that I will do the fire extinguisher thing this next year but if desperate in the future...maybe. I will definitely build an arbor for it. Thanks!
