Low sun environment, one-vine grapevine grower seeks advice.

I'm living dismal, rainy and cold southern BC --- we're having the coldest early June since 1940. We've had one hour of sun in the last 12 days, seriously. A local ski hill re-opened last weekend because there was so much snow --- an all time first for a BC ski resort in June.

I bought a grape vine cutting last spring and planted it, it made no grapes last year, but this year it seems to be making tiny grapes --- I have high hopes.

However, I understand grape sugar content is directly related to the amount of sun they get and sun is one thing we haven't been getting. This is actually a pattern, not just a one-off anomaly. The last several years have been this way. There's no Pacific High Pressure Zone formation that we used to be be able to count on forming around the solstice and which, for the most part, would just sit off Van Isle till September, making consistent, steady north-westerlies and clear skies.

Now we just get an endless series of huge, skanky low pressure systems that sit there and spin off cold-front after cold-front. It didn't used to be this way.

Anyway, I pruned my infant grapevine severely last fall, so it'll probably put out lots of new growth this season. Can I direct what little sugar content there is into a small number of grapes by pruning other infant grape clusters and just leaving a few?

Should I trim just the embryonic fruit-clusters and leave the leaves?

I was hoping to get enough grapes to make a liter (or two) of wine --- Chateau Surrey Basement Suite, '08.
;)

Hence, a small number of high sugar-content grapes would be better than more low sugar-content grapes.

 

Dismal, dismal...my furnace is on in June!
Short of a long extension cord and some grow lights, there's nothing that will replace the sun which is definitely MIA this year. If your crop is heavy some bunch thinning may still be a good idea to direct the plant's resources to a smaller amount of fruit, but I'd wait a bit to see what kind of set you get as sparse bunches will have the same effect as fewer full bunches.

Your vine looks quite young (3-4 years?) so it shouldn't be expected to carry a huge load in any event.

Ralph

 

Yeah, I only planted the summer before last. OK, I'll wait on pruning, thanks for the advice.
This weather is really bad, eh? And it just goes on and on and on, man. I'm going kayaking in a couple weeks and I sure hope we get SOME sun for that, but I'm starting to have my doubts...

 

I had planted a reliance grape last year and fertilised it with chicken manure, its growth surpassed all my expectations, it has already put out more than 50 clusters this year that I have thinned out.... Consider growing one of these for chateau Surrey sauvignon

I am not holding my breath and am expecting it to get really warm in december... because the entire Canada is enjoying summer, but not us....

G1

 

50 clusters? Wow. Good for you. I planted mine two summers ago and it only has two tiny little clusters this year, it's first. And I fertilized it good, too.