> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Jeff,
>
> Couple more questions.
>
> 1. Don't you bring your vines inside over the winter??? If so I would
> assume most of the buds should have survived.

I picked up a little winter preservation trick. When I bought the vines
originally they were bundled in cold storage. For the last 5 years I've been
repeating the process with the same vines. Every November after leaf fall
and total dormancy, I soak in a mild fungicide, and gently wrap the roots
and canes in individual plastics and keep in a refrigerator at 34 F until
April. I check them every 4 to 6 weeks, re soak, etc. So far, so good.

> 2. The non-fruitful vines is an interesting issue. Hmmm........

Acutally, on closer inspection, they are fruiting, sort of. I'm noticing
tiny mutated flowering clusters. Only one vine is behaving this way at this
point. I'm treating it as a non fruiting vine.

> 3. Did you use the hot-house to get these things going this spring????

Yes, a portable greenhouse that puts up and takes down in 30 minutes.
Because we have high frost risk spring, I protect the buds over night.
Without use of a heater, daytime temps can climb to 55 or 60 F. This gives
them a bit of a head start on local vines. I remove the greenhouse when
weather is consistently risk free, or during the day. If a week of cold
spring rain is in the forecast it goes up and stays until the systme passes
through.

> I would assume hot-houses are like BIG grow tubes and would assume that

I used grow tubes for starting vines years ago. Didn't like them. They had
their own ecosystem in there and it was nerve racking.

>it would be interesting to know how the vines respond when you take the
>hot-house down.

Yes, they behave normally. I allow hothouse temps to equalize with outside
first, then take it down. The vines behave fine. no drooping or shock.
Better sun.

>I would assume the vigor would slow until the natural environment catches
>up to the climate of the hot house. I wouldn't assume a linear vigor
>pattern because of that.

Perhaps you are right about that. Showing good growth, but due to my
deliberate space restrictions and a bit of survival cheating in spring (and
fall), there is a different morphology with the canopy.

Jeff