How to Keep Young Grape Vines Alive

Care for young grape vines so they reward you with abundant fruit when established.

Grape vines in the backyard not only provide fruit you can eat raw or cook for jellies and jams, but create an attractive focal point with their lush foliage and fruit clusters. When trained to spread and grow along an overhead arbor or trellis, grape vines produce dense shade and natural color. Follow good cultural practices to keep young grape vines alive and encourage them to establish healthy roots. Once established, the prolific producers will reward you with one to two bushels of fruit per vine, depending on the variety.

Things You'll Need

• Soaker hose
• Mulch
• 10-10-10 fertilizer
• Wood or bamboo pole 6 feet tall
• Clippers
• Elastic cord or ties
• Horticultural oil or insecticide

Instructions

1. Irrigate the young grape vine with 1 to 2 inches of water every week during the growing season. In the winter, provide water only when the top 2 inches of soil feels dry. Irrigate the young plants with a soaker hose that provides water at soil level instead of watering overhead, which increases chances of fungal diseases and pest infestations.

2. Mulch the soil around the grape vines to retain moisture and prevent weeds that compete for soil moisture and nutrients. Maintain a 2-inch layer of organic mulch.

3. Spread 1/4 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer in a 1 1/2-foot-wide circle around the base of each grape vine two to four weeks after planting. Repeat the application every five to six weeks until midsummer. Increase the fertilizer application to 1/2 pound the following year, applied in mid-spring, early summer and late summer.

4. Push a 6-foot wood post or bamboo training pole behind each grape vine when it begins new growth. Select the most vigorous shoot on each plant, cutting away the others with clippers. Loosely secure the growing shoot to the training pole with elastic cord or plant ties that do not girdle the plant.

5. Continue to tie the growing vine to the pole and removing side shoots every week, until the vine reaches the top of the pole. Installing a single-wire trellis during the second year provides room for the older grape vine to grow and spread.

6. Treat pests such as beetles, grape berry moths and grape fleas with horticultural oil or use a registered insecticide for heavy infestations.

Tips & Warnings

• Plant grape vines in well-draining, loose soil with full sunlight exposure in spring. Space grape vines 8 to 10 feet apart.

• Prune the top of each vine down to two buds immediately after planting.

• Clip off suckers that develop at the base of the growing grape vines.

• Avoid overwatering the young grape vine or creating pools of water at its base; instead, water until it is evenly moist.

References

• National Gardening Association: Grape
• BBC Gardening Guides: How to Grow Grapevines
• National Gardening Association: Care & Harvesting of Grapes
• University of Minnesota Extension; Growing Grapes for Home Use; Emily Hoover, et al.; 2008
• Ohio State University Fact Sheet; Growing Grapes in the Home Fruit Planting; Gary Gao