Hi all,
First time poster here in Hillsborough, NC. This summer I bought a house and inherited with it two concord grape vines that have been VERY neglected. They both produced a crop this year, though, lacking any experience in this area, I cannot estimate its quantity or quality relative to an average. Now that fall is here, I'd like to make a plan for dealing with them so I can start off on the right foot in spring.
I've included pictures below. The first few show one vine which has grown along (and pulled down) the fence around our garden as well as way up a nearby apple tree. The other had some sort of trellis that it was growing on, but that structure is rotting and the vine has become throughly intertwined with overgrown thorny vines.
I will avoid specifics for the moment and focus on general questions I have:
1) It is advisable to try to reattach and older growth cordon to a new trellis or do I need to cut it back to near the trunk and retrain it from scratch?
2) For those that I do trim, how far back should I trim them? Should I leave any of the cordon or trim down to the main trunk?
3a) If I can leave the cordons: How many should I leave and how much of the cordon beyond the trunk should I preserve?
3b) If I have to trim down to the trunk, how much of the trunk should I leave above ground?
Thanks so much for any feedback you can provide! I've got lots of other questions about propagation, trellises, and how to identity a (perhaps wild) grape vine (muscadine, I hope!) growing on an overgrown part of my property.
First time poster here in Hillsborough, NC. This summer I bought a house and inherited with it two concord grape vines that have been VERY neglected. They both produced a crop this year, though, lacking any experience in this area, I cannot estimate its quantity or quality relative to an average. Now that fall is here, I'd like to make a plan for dealing with them so I can start off on the right foot in spring.
I've included pictures below. The first few show one vine which has grown along (and pulled down) the fence around our garden as well as way up a nearby apple tree. The other had some sort of trellis that it was growing on, but that structure is rotting and the vine has become throughly intertwined with overgrown thorny vines.
I will avoid specifics for the moment and focus on general questions I have:
1) It is advisable to try to reattach and older growth cordon to a new trellis or do I need to cut it back to near the trunk and retrain it from scratch?
2) For those that I do trim, how far back should I trim them? Should I leave any of the cordon or trim down to the main trunk?
3a) If I can leave the cordons: How many should I leave and how much of the cordon beyond the trunk should I preserve?
3b) If I have to trim down to the trunk, how much of the trunk should I leave above ground?
Thanks so much for any feedback you can provide! I've got lots of other questions about propagation, trellises, and how to identity a (perhaps wild) grape vine (muscadine, I hope!) growing on an overgrown part of my property.
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