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'Earthing up' grapevines for root growth

kieran.f.macdonaldkieran.f.macdonald Posts: 13
in Fruit & veg
I have two grapevines growing in pots; I planted them two years ago, and I would guess that they were two years old (a couple of feet tall) when I bought them at the garden centre. I've recently noticed that they're sitting very low in the pots; as well as a failure on my part to properly fill the pots with soil when I first planted the grapes, the soil has settled over the last couple of years so that now there is a good 4 inches of unused depth at the top of the pot.

I'd like to raise the level of the soil to create more depth for the roots to grow in, and I thought I could try to do this by gradually 'earthing up' the soil around the main stem of each grapevine, like you do with potatoes. So my question is: if I add more soil around the stem to create a mound, will this cause the grapevines to create new roots under the new soil, or will it just cause them to rot where the stem is buried?
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2023
    Rather than ‘earth up’ I would repot them, with more growing medium below the roots rather than above … roots want/need to grow downwards, not upwards. After two years the growing medium will need renewing by now anyway  😊 

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





  • kieran.f.macdonaldkieran.f.macdonald Posts: 13
    edited April 2023
    Dovefromabove said:
    Rather than ‘earth up’ I would repot them, with more growing medium below the roots rather than above … roots want/need to grow downwards, not upwards. After two years the growing medium will need renewing by now anyway  😊 

    Unfortunately that's not a convenient option as the vines are wrapped around a pergola and it would be quite difficult to unwrap them in order to get the plant out of the pot. I'm aware that repotting is an option, but I'm trying to see if I can avoid it by earthing up instead. And I'm aware that roots need to grow downwards, but I'm hoping that if new roots are created under the earthed-up soil, they can then grow downwards.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Agree with @Dovefromabove There will be little to be gained from adding soil at the top.  If you can't re pot and you are willing to forgo any possible fruit this year,  your other option would be to trim back the vine, break open the current pots, plant in the ground and retrain on the pergola. May not be what you want to do but could be worth considering if you want the plants to thrive.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited April 2023
    Earthing up around what is actually the trunk of the vine could actually cause the loss of your vine. 


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





  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Vines need to be in the ground and it must be very difficult if you don't have this option. But the advice from @Dovefromabove is so sound.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    If you can't get it in the ground, you'll have to do what @philippasmith2 and @Dovefromabove have said - ie cut back, remove and replant higher in the pot. Possibly a bigger pot than you have. 
    Anything going in a pot long term needs to be potted at the right level - ie near the top of the container, as it's normal for the soil mix to drop as it settles. You can't top it up for the reasons given, unless it's something like a large flowering clematis which don't mind the stems being buried, and actually benefit from that due to how they grow. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    If they are just two years in the pot, there may be enough flexibility on the stem for you to ease them out of the old pots into something larger (depth and width/diameter). If you are able to plant them into the ground, maybe you could ease them out of their old posts and into some bottomless pots or build a mini raised bed so they are planted at the same height but now with free access to the ground below.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • kieran.f.macdonaldkieran.f.macdonald Posts: 13
    Thanks for all the replies (even though they weren't the answer I wanted to hear)!
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    If there's enough "give" you might be able to ease the pots off, put some fresh compost in the bottoms, put them back in the same pots and fill in any gaps with more compost. In the ground or in bigger pots would probably be better but it might keep them going another year.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • kieran.f.macdonaldkieran.f.macdonald Posts: 13
    JennyJ said:
    If there's enough "give" you might be able to ease the pots off, put some fresh compost in the bottoms, put them back in the same pots and fill in any gaps with more compost. In the ground or in bigger pots would probably be better but it might keep them going another year.

    The thing is, they seem to be thriving; in two years they've climbed 2 metres to the top of the pergola (after having had half a metre snapped off by the cat in the first year), and one of them has grown another 1 metre across the top. I've measured the depth of the soil they're in, and it's 14 inches (so the pots are already pretty big); I just wanted to see if I could get a few more inches without repotting! 
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