i have been given about 20 concord grape vines to take care of, these
vines are very old and havent been taken care of too much. i have read
a bit about pruning grape vines but my question is is there a point when
you cut the vine completely off at the base?? i ask this because all the
vines are big i mean some of the bases are bigger around than a softball
and are real knarly. or should i just leave them alone and try to work
with what i got? it looks as though every year someone had cut off all
growth to a large stub of vine about 2 ft high.
the old lady called me last fall to come and pick all the grapes and i
was surprised by the abundance of grapes on the vines, i had nearly
200lbs.

what should i do?

mike

> wrote in message
...
> i have been given about 20 concord grape vines to take care of, these
> vines are very old and havent been taken care of too much. i have read
> a bit about pruning grape vines but my question is is there a point when
> you cut the vine completely off at the base?? i ask this because all the
> vines are big i mean some of the bases are bigger around than a softball
> and are real knarly.

I wouldnt. If you cut tham back that far, you will be two or three years
before they grow out far enough to have another crop of grapes.


or should i just leave them alone and try to work
> with what i got? it looks as though every year someone had cut off all
> growth to a large stub of vine about 2 ft high.

The ideal way is to have them on a wire or fence, and at about 3 feet off
the ground,run one vine right and one left. Then in at about 5 ft do it
again. Then when those vines reach about 5 ft long, cut the ends off and
dont let them get any longer.

Then from the "trunk" to the end of the vines, allow one limb to grow every
4 to 6 inches. The next year, (dedpending on where you are, In the north,
in December, in the south, February) )prune those limbs off leaving two or
three "buds". Those two or three buds will produce leaves and grapes.

My termonoligy is not correct, but it is easier to follow if you are
unfamiliar with the right terms. Good luck.

Dwayne




> the old lady called me last fall to come and pick all the grapes and i
> was surprised by the abundance of grapes on the vines, i had nearly
> 200lbs.
>
> what should i do?
>
> mike
>

Hulkster,
They sound like REALLY healthy vines and I wouldn't do anything to
them if you happy with what you harvested last year. They sound like
they are head trained vines which is perfectly fine if they're doing
fine. What I would do is find the "canes" that grew last year. THose
canes will have no bark and probably a reddish-orange color. They have
buds about 6 inches apart and probably are about 3 feet long. Fruit
will only come from buds on those canes. Cut each of those canes back
towards the head of the vine ("the large stub of the vine") to leave
only 1 bud per cane. Don't forget there is a bud at the intersection
of the cane and the head. You could just leave all those buds this
year that way you'd "crop" each vine exactly the way it was cropped
last year. If the grapes weren't ripe last year cut the buds in half
and cut off half the canes all the way back to the head. SO if you
have 30 canes coming out of the head you'll leave 30 1 bud stubs. See
how that goes then next year you could build a trellis system Concord
like high-wire cordon because their growing pattern is downward but
you don't have to do that this year. With keeping with the existing
pruning system it gives you a full year to read up on you next move.

Hope this helps.

Bob

wrote in message >...
> i have been given about 20 concord grape vines to take care of, these
> vines are very old and havent been taken care of too much. i have read
> a bit about pruning grape vines but my question is is there a point when
> you cut the vine completely off at the base?? i ask this because all the
> vines are big i mean some of the bases are bigger around than a softball
> and are real knarly. or should i just leave them alone and try to work
> with what i got? it looks as though every year someone had cut off all
> growth to a large stub of vine about 2 ft high.
> the old lady called me last fall to come and pick all the grapes and i
> was surprised by the abundance of grapes on the vines, i had nearly
> 200lbs.
>
> what should i do?
>
> mike