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Help! Our vine is VERY unhappy!

narichardsnarichards Posts: 2
edited July 2018 in Problem solving

We have a very established grape vine in our garden and for the 4 years we’ve been here it has flourished. It’s probably 20 years old as we inherited it with the house.

By summer it’s branches can barely be seen for all the leaves and we get loads of grapes too.

This year - it’s a totally different story. There are hardly any leaves, many are brown and dead and the branches that do have leaves are pitiful in volume compared to years before.

Have we done something to it? We had it professionally cut back 2 years ago as it was so bushy in the summer and the year after that it was perfect. Then I THINK my husband may have had a go at cutting it back last autumn/winter so not sure if this is the reason?

There are some weedy plants at its base which are new - could it be altering the soil?

Help! We love our vine and it looks like it’s had enough! 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    I've been watering mine which is 6 or 7 ish ... at only four years old the roots of your vine  may not be reaching down far enough to cope without additional watering in these extreme conditions as they do in commercial vineyards. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • narichardsnarichards Posts: 2
    Sorry. It’s way more than 4 years old - I’ll make that clearer!
    we moved into the house 4 years ago... it’s probably at least 20 years old!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    I'm not an expert ... But I used to watch the ancient vine on our house being pruned when I was a child and I planted a vine here a few years ago and I'm learning as I go along and it's doing ok so far. 
    I still think it's a drought issue. 
    I would remove all the brown and dying growth. Then I would cut back each branch to three leaves beyond the first bunch of grapes and then I would give it lots and lots of water. Leave a hose trickling at its roots for a couple of hours every other evening for a week until we get some good steady rain. 
    I prune mine in the winter and again to remove much of the lush growth after flowering. 
    I'll find the name of the book I use and post a link in an hour or so. 
    Hope that helps.  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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