GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

simy1 · 02-08-2006, 04:05 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
a. true
b. false. very early spring is best time to prune in cold areas. they will not
"bleed" to death.
c. false. dont feed plants in cold areas in fall or it might spur soft growth that
wont properly harden off before winter.

for the manure, you wait until the plants go dormant, which is mid-Fall
here. Not only that, topdressing with manure does not start
fertilization until a good rain comes. No growth whatsoever. I am
pretty sure c. is true, though adding manure anytime between november
and march would result in the same outcome (of course,
december-february manure is frozen and unspreadable around here).

I am surprised early spring is best for pruning. Not only I tried it
both ways and found that late fall was best (lots of bleeding, late
leafing and a miserable crop, and I pruned in March, or late winter),
for other vines late fall is best (hardy kiwis, which I also have). I
am in SE Michigan.

Ingrid

a) prepare to defend the grapes against birds and racoons this
september. i suggest both an electric fence around the fence and lots
of bird netting draped over
b) google "pruning grapes". It is important to prune in late fall and
not in early spring, as these vines bleed profusely in spring. Other
than that, grapes gets pruned far more than, say, apple trees.
Basically, you leave the skeleton up
c) some manure this fall is a good idea. The plant has grown and
produced a lot

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