Moving first year Pinot Noir grapevines

[roykirk]

I've been a longtime winemaker but this is the first year trying my hand at actually growing my own grapes. I planted five pinot noir grapevines in what turned out to be a poor location. The problem is a combination of poor soil drainage and nutrition.

So what I'm looking for advice on is this: I have a new spot picked out for the vines that I'm pretty certain will be much better for them. Three of the vines look healthy enough to make it through the rest of the summer and so I thought I'd wait until next spring to move them while they're still dormant. Two of them were near death and so I already dug them up and put them in a container with high quality potting soil to see if I could save them. They're suddenly going nuts and growing like crazy. I have no idea what I should do at this point. Try to move the remaining three now or wait? Considering how well it worked for the other two, I've also thought about digging up the other three and potting them as well until next spring. What should I do with the two potted ones that are suddenly healthy again? Store them in the garage in their pots for the winter and replant them next spring? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[garymc]

What kind of climate are you in? See over to the left where my name and location are displayed? You can do that too unless you're a secret agent.

 

[roykirk]

Sorry, no secret agent but I can't figure out how to add that at the moment. I'm in Washington State in the Cascade foothills, zone 8b.