a vine was growing on the garden fence, and i left it there because i thought it might be decorative on the unattractive and tall mesh deer fencing. i just took a good look at it and was pleased to find it's a wild grape vine -- but i'm clueless as to what to do next. i've read my gardening books and played around on the internet, but all of the instructions seem to be for european vines and new plants. what do i do with this native variety that's already got a couple seasons on it? do i just let it stay as it grew until winter and then cut it back to the main stem? there are lots of grape clusters set -- should i thin them out? oh, and the instructions talk about 'canes' and 'shoots' -- what's the difference? thanks so much for any advice~
Having only three years experience, I will offer my opinion. Cut it back in the late Fall or very early Spring. You do have too many tenacles growing, that is for sure. Probably three main stems on each side of the trunk, directly from the main trunk are ideal. I see no reason why you cannot treat the wild vines similar to domestic. I had a similar problem determining how to cut, with my four vines started in 2005, but I perservered from studying diagrams on the Internet, and now feel slightly confident. My vines have only two main stems on each side of the main trunk, and I keep them at about four feet on each side, but in your case you can let them grow along the fence a bit longer ( six or eight feet), and possibly insert more plants to fill in the gaps. About 90% of the vegetation should be pruned yearly. It also might be advantageous to plant domestic grapes along the fence. Why waste time on a wild one?
looks fairly young 2-3 years old, train it on one side of the fence, leave a trunk (30 inches or so high) leave 2 arms with 12- 16 buds horizontal to the ground and train this years growth vertical along your fence
"Canes" usually refers to last year's (or previous) growth, "shoots" refers to this year's growth. Ralph
