Replanting older vines

[blumentopferde]

Hey!

I'd like to replant some 1-year and 2-year old vines because I'm just not happy with their location any more.

Some have been planted before I put up the trellis and now I figured out, that I planted them off the rows some others are very early ripening varieties which I happened to plant to the sunniest spots on the property

I'd like to relocate them to keep the row straight and to give way to more demanding varieties.

I thought that winter would be the best time to do so. So my plan is to dig out each plant including an earth block of about 30x30x30cm / 12x12x12" and just relocate them as long as they are dormant.

I will definitely destroy some roots doing so, but I hope the plants can take it!

Could that work out? Any experiences with that?

 

[dwhill40]

I dug 33 one year old cab vines on 101-14 growing in red clay in early March. Shook the dirt off and put them in a tub of wet sand. Bare roots only. Left them in my garage for over two weeks. Planted them in completely different soil and pruned them back to 2 or three buds. 25 of the 33 survived. More would have probably survived with more care. Being new to the anatomy of a grapevine, I was surprised at the depth and the lack of a growth crown. It looked like I had dug a septic field line 75 feet long 4 hours later.

 

[ThePlantGuy978]

You should not have any problems as long as they are dormant. It will probably stunt their growth the first year or two, but in the long run they should be fine.

Hans

www.MuscadinesAndMore.com

 

[grapeman]

Like the others said, yes you can move the vines. Keep as many of the roots intact as you can. If you can dig more than 12x12 that would be good. Doing the 12 x 12 inch block only gives you 6 inch roots. You will find that a 2 year old vine will have roots up to 4 feet long. If you can dig 24 x 24 that will give some 12 inch roots. Prune the vine back before replanting to help balance the vine out some between top and bottom.

 

[blumentopferde]

Thanks for your replies!

Just another question: Would you wait until the worst frosts are over, or could I relocate them just now? At the moment the weather is very mild over here, so it would be a good oportunity to do so, but as it is recommended to wait with pruning until the end of winter, i'm not quite sure about it...

 

[grapeman]

I would say it depends on your climate. I forget where you are located and you don't have it set in your information. If it stays relatively warm there you could do it anytime. If it is going to get near or below 0, I would wait until it begins to warm some to near freezing.

 

[blumentopferde]

I'm from Austria, Europe. Usually it very rarely goes below 14°F, but you never know, weather is just crazy these days...

I think I'll risk it, that way I'm not getting into time pressure in spring... only having time during the weekends I could easily miss the short time window between snowfall and bud burst....