Helping these vines

[Jovimaple]

My dad planted a couple of vines a few years ago. He doesn't remember what he bought, but I'm assuming they are appropriate for zone 4b.

He trained them up across an old swingset frame, but I'm guessing they need a lot of work to clean them up to produce more. I saw a few clusters on the vines.

I don't know anything about grape vine management, but I thought I would throw a couple of pictures on here to see if anyone has any thoughts. It would be fun to get enough for a gallon batch or so each year.

 

[Snafflebit]

A swing set! I remember those. Why don't I see any of those anymore? Oh I remember, ours flew apart when my sister and I decided to try crazy kid stuff on it.

Those grapes look like Concord, but don't quote me.

If it is Concord, I believe they are cane pruned. You could cut back the vine to a head at the top of each side of the "trellis" and lay down a cane along the top. You would have to renew this cane each year

 

[David Violante]

I concur… those look very much like concords.

You might also consider a spraying regimen to help with things like black rot, powdery mildew, insects... I use JMS stylet oil mixed with water in a sprayer every week to 10 days once you have fruit set, which it looks like you do. Prior to that I also add manzate when blooms are at a half inch or so and then spray according to the schedule on the directions until fruit set.

Somewhere in the Spring before it starts getting warm is a good time to prune. Way back. There’s a good video of doing this I’ll have to find it and send the link.

 

[David Violante]

Tom Zabadal has a video series about growing grapes and video 28 talks about pruning mature vines. Specifically included are Concords.

This should take you there:

 

[David Violante]

I hope it’s ok to post this question here Joni, it goes hand in hand with your pruning question and I didn’t see it answered in the video. My concords are way off the to races this year, probably from all the rain. I’ve been reading about leaf pulling and canopy management, but haven’t seen a lot for concords. I’m looking for some wisdom to that next piece of vineyard-ing. I see a lot on leaf pulling on the VSP style, but not TWC.