How can I best grow these grapes?

Hi there

My grapevine has developed little grape buds like in this picture in several places.



What can I do to my grape vine to maximise the size of the grapes when fully ripe (eg pruning, feeding)? Here is the whole vine.



Thank you
Amanda

[ 21. June 2006, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: AmandaClareEmily ]

 

Be hard-hearted! Take out about a third of the bunches of forming grapes, so that what you're left with can get bigger. Basically, you end up with quality rather than quantity

 

Vine pruning isn't one of my strongest points but you do need to start thining out the non flowering shoots so the vine strenght goes toward fruit production. Aim to remove about 2/3 of the leaf coverage and maintain an open airy feel so the grapes get full sun and ripen. Looking at the pic the vine seems vigerous so shouldn't need feeding, maybe a slosh with tomato feed once a month.

Pruning of old wood should only be done when the vine is dormant in the winter (no later than February) or the cuts can weep (called bleeding)

Loads of info on the web about vine culture, try:

Iowa State University: Pruning Grapevines

Or:

RHS: Pruning grape vines

 

Thank you. Dendrobium, when you say take out about a 3rd of the bunches of forming grapes, do you mean take a 3rd of the grapes from each bunch, or take off a 3rd of the total number of bunches. Hope that makes sense.
Frogesque, I will follow your suggestions about taking out the non flowering (graping?) shoots.

Amanda

 

Really, I meant take out a 1/3 of the fruit-bearing branches- but not quite as far as the old wood. As Frogesque says, that will bleed. If you do this, the vine will still look natural, and keep its original shape, but stay healthy, as it won't be too crowded. Even better, take out the leaves as Frogesque says - same reason!

 

Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in now. A question about the shoots with grapes on that I do leave. These extend quite far after where the grapes are, so do i trim off the end of the shoot after where the grapes are?

Amanda

 

Oh ok - have seen the answer to that question in the RHS link.

Thanks. Will post a picture once i have done the pruning over the weekend.

Amanda