[flopsy]

Hi All
I have had a grapevine for about 6 years now, most years it produces small bunches of grapes which my wife loves.
But it goes mental putting on masses of new growth every year which i cut back.
The trunk is about an inch thick and it stands 6 foot high on a trellice work.
When i look at the ones on tv they are small plants that produce lots of grapes
Am i not managing it right?  It just seems to grow new runners each year

[mrs bouquet]

I planted a vine many years ago, which runs back and forth a long and wide pergola.
  It to gets lots of growth which I just go up the ladder and cut off.
Normally I reduce the number of bunches and pick the smaller grapes out of the remaining bunches to let them have room to fatten.   This year I haven't done that yet, but will have to next week, there are so many it must weigh a ton.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong, if mine is anything to go by.  I never feed it, never water it, just tell it its lovely.  But in the early spring, I do cut it back really hard to the main trunks which are tied into the overhead beams.
Are you physically loving it too much, its still quite a baby.  Good luck, Mrs Bouquet

[sunshineband]

I have found that keeping the in-season growth under control, and reducing the number of bunches of grapes so that each bunch has space to swell without meshing with the one next door doe mean each bunch is healthier. One year I went to the effort of thinning the grapes in the bunches themselves, but tbh as I use ours for grape juice (then make jelly) it was not that impressive an improvement, volume-wise. They are Blcka Hamburgh