On Tue, 23 Oct 2012 clematis wrote:

Weather hasn't been great for grapes this year.... they really need dry heat
for a good few weeks running up to harvest time..(September ..ish) but...
Actually "lots" of growth isn't really what's needed... you MUST cut back
hard either after picking and the leaves have dropped or feb/march ish
....cut back to main stem. Hard.
There should be just main plant stem left only.....

That's a little simplistic! You have to leave a couple of buds from
current growth. Also pruning must be done in December/January when sap
is at its lowest and the vines have a chance of healing over the cut
otherwise it will bleed profusely and is likely to die. February? - you
can possibly get away with it. But March is far too late, especially if
there is an early spring.

I must finish my pages on growing vines on my web site. I've done
nothing to them for the last few years as I've been doing web sites for
other people.

David (who has been growing vines for thirty-six years!)

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk