I have no idea what I'm doing!

[Jamesp]

Hello from England!

No, it's not raining .... at the moment.

We have inherited a well established grape vine after a house move. It's in a green house and things are happening with leaves growing. Although I am not green fingered in the slightest, last thing I want to do is kill this vine.

I'm not sure on the age of it or the grapes - I don't even drink wine! I'm well out of my depth with this at the moment.

I'll grab some photos at the weekend if it's of any help.

My first question is watering. We have been in the house and haven't watered it. What's the schedule with watering?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the basic questions ..... I'll learn.

 

[NorCal]

Pics would help. There are table grapes and wine making grapes. One is good for eating but bad for wine making, the other excellent for making wine and not so good to eat by themselves. Do the vines go through to the outside soil? Is the plant well established? When the plant needs it the most, it will show signs of needing water; droopy leaves, shriveled berries.

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[Johny99]

For watering, when the little twisty tendrils at the tips of the vines droop, or the angle between the stem and leaf glues more acute than 90 degrees, give it some water. Otherwise it is happy.

Welcome

 

[Jamesp]

Thanks for all the replies, I'll try and get some photos this evening but sounds like I'm good with watering for now. The vine looked like a dead stick up until about 2 weeks ago when leaves have started to come out.

The vine is definetely well established and it comes out of the ground in the corner of the green house so I would imagine there's roots in and outside.

Thanks all

 

[Jamesp]

Hi all

As promised, here's some photos and a video

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDcWszOKmm4[/ame]

That help at all?

 

[saddlebronze]

Some very good news on this vine, it's well established, will never need watering in merry old England and has been pruned for the season. Watch it grow, enjoy it and taste the berries. You have quite a specimen there. It's unlikely to be a wine grape, based on how well it's doing in England.

 

[Johny99]

Man, looks like the Godzilla of vines. Keep these pictures, and make it look like this next winter. Otherwise, I'm with saddlebronze, let it grow and enjoy.

 

[cgallamo]

Some very good news on this vine, it's well established, will never need watering in merry old England and has been pruned for the season. Watch it grow, enjoy it and taste the berries. You have quite a specimen there. It's unlikely to be a wine grape, based on how well it's doing in England.

Won't it potentially need watering if it is in a greenhouse?

To keep it happy you need a little management. Take a look at this article on managing grapevines in the UK - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=287

 

[TonyR]

No watering needed. It's not potted. By the size of the vine those roots go for a long deep way.

 

[Stressbaby]

The vine is in the ground in the corner, it likely has roots going out into the yard. With good ventilation inside the greenhouse, it probably won't need water.

It almost looks like the GH was built around the vine, for the vine. From the video, it looks like the GH has an "L" shape. And it is a damn nice greenhouse, aluminum framed, glass walls and twinwall polycarbonate glazing on the roof. If it faces the right way (south) you have a nice heat sink in the north wall. You could do lots of cool things with that greenhouse.

The vine is anchored right in the corner, so over time you need to be sure there is no structural damage to the GH from the vine or the roots. The other issue is that you might not be able to grow very much in that space beyond that grape vine, because the thing is so massive that it will throw shade everywhere.

I'd love to see pictures this fall, because you might not even be able to walk through the greenhouse by then.

 

[cgallamo]

The vine is in the ground in the corner, it likely has roots going out into the yard. With good ventilation inside the greenhouse, it probably won't need water.

It almost looks like the GH was built around the vine, for the vine. From the video, it looks like the GH has an "L" shape. And it is a damn nice greenhouse, aluminum framed, glass walls and twinwall polycarbonate glazing on the roof. If it faces the right way (south) you have a nice heat sink in the north wall. You could do lots of cool things with that greenhouse.

The vine is anchored right in the corner, so over time you need to be sure there is no structural damage to the GH from the vine or the roots. The other issue is that you might not be able to grow very much in that space beyond that grape vine, because the thing is so massive that it will throw shade everywhere.

I'd love to see pictures this fall, because you might not even be able to walk through the greenhouse by then.

On second examination I think you are right about the water. Anyway if it ever got too dry you would know. Agree also with being able to walk in there. Must have to trim a path through to get to the grapes!

 

[Jamesp]

Hey guys

Didn't realise I got all these replies, thanks for the help!

In terms of watering, I also came to the same conclusion that the roots are actually outside, strangly though, it hasn't rained for a few days.

It does get very warm in there. From what I understand, the greenhouse is Victorian or Georgian (which probably doesn't mean an awful lot to you guys!), sometime around early 1900's. It has been rebuilt at various points in its life (hence the poly carb and decent state of the frame).

Im starting to now get mini grapes and it's getting quite bushy in places (focus isn't great on the photos).

There's some feelers (don't know the real term!) that are growing, should I be putting some wire along the roof for them to attach to?

Thanks all

 

[Stressbaby]

Is there automatic venting? Looks like you have an old-style manual vent.

 

[Kraffty]

beautiful old vine and greenhouse. Just for your info the baby grapes are actually flowers, they'll pop and drop, but don't panic, the real grapes will follow. The tendrils will wrap to whatever they can reach. If they have something to grab and spread out on they will, if not they'll wrap up and bunch up on themselves.

Mike

 

[Jamesp]

Thanks Kraffty! Going to be interesting to see what happens. Next thing is to figure out what to do with the grapes when they come!

Stressbaby, all manual in there! I leave the door open during the day. That lever has snapped somewhere and needs welding.