Can this vine survive?

[ColoradoVineEnjoyer]

Hi all,

I'm new to viticulture, and am attempting to grow a few different varieties of grape in planters. This Merlot recently began bud break, and suddenly I found that all of the buds had been chewed off while I was in the office today. I am wondering, is there hope that this plant will survive?

 

[GSMChris]

Grapes are pretty hardy - I think it will re sprout. You’ll want to figure out what ate the buds and then protect the vine appropriately.

 

[Rice_Guy]

On year one I will have hardware cloth surrounding my new grapes and trees.

Will it bud out again? If the root is established it has reserves and will develop more buds. There looks to be a nice bud low on your photo. ,,, Is this a grafted vine? The top was pretty well damaged. I have lost scions because there aren’t enough buds of the new plant.
You are in a pot. Having dry roots will kill the plant faster than having a pest eat the young shoots.

 

[GSMChris]

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You are in a pot. Having dry roots will kill the plant faster than having a pest eat the young shoots.

Definitely true. My potted vines got 1 gallon of water twice a week - three times a week during hotter summer weeks. Make sure pots drain well!

I should point out that by 18 months in 5 gallon pots, my vines were busting out the bottoms of the pots… So long term, you’ll need to find a place to plant them in the ground or move to a much much larger pot.

 

[tjmeyer]

Roots, roots, roots! Unless you're on a rootstock (looks like you may be, but can be hard to tell), I don't think this will finish your vine off. If you are on a rootstock, there's a strong chance that the vine will abandoned the graph and sucker from the bottom up, so you may end up with shoots from the rootstock instead of the intended varietal.

But no, it's not dead.

 

[Jovimaple]

@ColoradoVineEnjoyer Welcome to WMT!