First Year Vines In Containers?

[FutureFarm]

I’m in the process of building a new house and moving to an acreage. One of the benefits of the new site is the opportunity to have vines of my own. The house is expected to be finished Fall 2024. In the spring 2024 can I buy some vines and keep them in containers at my current place until the new house is ready for them?
The current house has fewer deer/rabbits. If the vines generally stay small the first year, would I be hurting them by replanting? Cutting a whole year out of the waiting for fruit seems nice if it would work.

 

[Snafflebit]

You can heel in the vines in a shady spot of your land. That way you don't need to focus on irrigating the potted vines and they will grow slow---er. Don't leave them there forever. I have a large number of rooting canes in pots and grapes are thirsty. I have to finagle some help from my friends to water the plants when I travel.

 

[GSMChris]

When I planted my vineyard in April 2022, the bareroot grapes were sold in lots of 25 and the green plants in lots of 20. Since my rows weren‘t even multiples of 20 or 25, I ended up with a few extra plants of each varietal. I talked a local nursery into selling me five gallon pots cheaply - just the black common ones. I then filled those pots with native soil from the vineyard and stationed them at the end of each row where I could water them automatically with the same drip system from that row.

It worked out really well as a few plants didn’t make it - gophers, wind, and just lack of vigor. The potted plants did well as fill in to close the gaps. I’m now ending my secomd leaf and I’ll go through one more time and fill in gaps with the dormant grapes.

However, whatever doesn’t get planted this winter will be given away either to friends or back to the nursery where I got the pots. The plants have outgrown the pots and have large roots extending out through the drain holes making it unlikely they will continue to thrive going forward. So, if you do decide to do this, I’d suggest that you need to get them in the ground no later than two years from when you plant them. And I would suggest 5 gallon or larger pots - grapes can get massive in a surprisingly short time.

Here‘s a picture of some Syrah vines - about 15 months in the pots at this point.