[adri123]

Hi

I have bought a seedless grape vine for the polytunnel and I'd like to train it to grow along the wires shown in the attached photos.  There's also a picture of the vine itself.  Should I take off the lower growth and just have one (or two?) growing tips? 

Any advice very much appreciated as I haven't a clue with vines.

Adri

[cadalot]

I downloaded this from the interweb for guidance and this is my 3rd year and I'm now training it along the wires.

[adri123]

Thx Cadalot.

What did you start off with?  I've bought a vine from Roger's of Pickering and their plants can often come pretty well developed so I'm not sure where I'm at in the cycle shown in your diagram.  Looking at the pics I suspect it's right for me to follow it from the beginning...

TIA

Adri

[adri123]

Just read this on the RHS site...

Good Lord it looks tricky!!!

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=286

[cadalot]

I bought 3 grape vines from wilko and they were but a twig with a clump of mud and root 3 years ago.

I will video the vine again this weekend and show you the growth since my video last month when they were just sticks again

[adri123]

That's kind of what I was on about.  Comparing what you get from Wilko with what you get from Rogers is like comparing chalk with cheese.  I've bought from both and won't go down the Wilko route again.  I reckon you need a year or more to catch up to the proper Nursery plant you get from Rogers.  Seen the same effect in Blueberries.

Which is why I'm not sure how to go about the first year on the vine...there's more to this than growing lettuce!!!

[cadalot]

I would say that the diagram is not based on where the plant was bought from, it's based on it's age.

Out of the 3 vines I have one that rocketed away and one that is little more than 2 ft high after 3 years and the middle one is somewhere in between.

[adri123]

Would you snip of the lower growth on mine if you look at the piccy?

Adri

[ambodach]

Training a vine does depend on what you are aiming at - the diagram that Cadalot came up with is one way of growing the vine and if it is a multiple stem configuration as shown in that diagram, then the answer is no.

My vine is in a lean-to g/h and has been trained as a single stem against the back wall from one corner - as such therefore it is a single stem from the corner bed, up the end of the back wall and horizontally along under the roof.  The fruiting spurs come off this stem every 200mm or so and are cut back every year to the main stem.  If that is the growing format you are planning on then you should take off the side spurs and concentrate all the growth into the main stem which you should cut back by a third each Christmas until it gets to the length you want.
Rob