grape problems
Bolou
Posts: 2
Hi everyone
About 3 wks ago we purchased a Marechal Foch grapevine. We re-potted it into a large enough container to spend its life in, adding fertilizer, food and bone meal. Its south facing, sheltered and in a sunny spot. When purchased from a DIY store, it looked bonny, green and bearing fruit. Its about 2-3ft tall, and 2ft across.
However its already looking unhappy. Its like there is something different wrong with different leaves. One or two yellowing, a couple with rust spots, maybe a spot or two of mildew (Ive no idea) and the majority of them are curling upwards back in on themselves, so its not one specific problem really, just little bits of everything.
No aphids, no 'visible' bugs, stems and new leaves ok, though not grown an inch since bought, not had long though. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Posts
The single most important thing with new grape vines is that they need to establish a good root system. They can't and won't do that if they are trying to grow and ripen fruit which will take all of the energy stored in the wood, so it may seem harsh but you need to cut the fruit off immediately when you plant or re-pot them. If you don't do that they could take years to establish properly. It is irresponsible of GC/DIY stores to sell young vines with fruit on them, but very, very obvious why they do it.
I agree with Bob - there's lots of growing needed underground before a grapevine gets going.
My grapevine was planted in the spring of 2012 and it's only really started to grow away this month.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you so much guys! I will cut them all off then. We did cut about half off, the small and straggly ones, but what you say makes sense. Your advice is so appreciated, especially as within the last 24hrs half the leaves have gone yellow and wilted!