Help, inherited grapevine and no clue what to do with it

[Cursingtheboobytum]

Hi,

We have just bought a new house with a lovely garden and a greenhouse. In said greenhouse is an established grapevine. It's planted from one corner and the trunk is twice the width of a hosepipe so its been there a few years. It is covered in mouldy grapes and dead leaves and it looks as though the previous owners gave up caring for it when they started selling the house. What should we do? We have already taken off the mouldy grapes and dead leaves as a start. Have we done the wrong thing?

Any help advice gratefully received

No you've totally done the right thing, its very common to have grapevines growing through into the window of a greenhouse so I would look at the soil in the greenhouse and maybe top that up with some compost. Just to feed it a little. I would also clean the windows of teh greenhouse if you can get to them (with washing up liquid) just to get rid of mould spores.

Next you really should prune it back other wise it will grow massive ! Can you get a book or look online maybe this may go into detail I can't on here.

apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=284

ooh I'm really excited for you what a lovely inheritance in a house move. All I got was a dead yucca !

Thanks prettywhite guitar. We've put some compost down on your advice.

I'm waiting for a warmer day before getting the marigolds out and giving the windows a wash.

Will check out the link on pruning too. We'd already chopped off the mouldy stalks but it does look a though it will need a good trim at some point.

yeah its still quite cold here at moment, they are usually pruned back to a basic framework, which you maybe able to see because there will still only be one years growth on it if they've just moved out.

You really can't kill a plant that established easily so don't worry too much. Just prune back to the framework, about 5 buds from the main stem, just after the bud. You can probably do anytime now as they are under glass and will be protected by frost.

You can pretty much treat a vine like crap and it will still produce grapes, like pretty said just prune back to the framework.

Lucky you!

I was in exactly your position and ended up with loads & loads of grapes.

if you clean up the greenhouse and do a bit of judicious pruning, in spring you will get lots of grape flowers, which end up being tiny green bunches of grapes.

persuade yourself to cut away all but the best. then of those, as the grapes develop, maybe chip away at individual grapes to get lots of big juicy ones rather than smaller ones which might go mouldy.

let a bit of ventialtion through in the summer

and enjoy the fact that the vine shades the greenhouse so it isn't a desert like hellhole in the summer

Prune as above now while it is dormant, then once the grapes are flowering, run your hand gently down each bunch to fertilise them, then once they have set, thin out and at the same time break off the vine shoots two buds from each bunch of grapes.

Enjoy!

I grow them outside (Leics) and get grapes!

CQs dp here. I dont know anything about grapevines but I have a nice Marvin Gaye song doing a loop in my head right now.