My Grape Vines health declining; What to do?

14 years ago

Hi, I recently repotted my grape vines to a larger pot. These are vines I took as babies with their roots found in my area last year while keeping their dirt on the roots and bringing some dirt home not to shock them.

They were great last year, but I brought them in for the winter and continued watering even after all foliage died away leaving what resembled dead twigs.

This January, these twigs started sprouting all over the place (from the twigs, sending some up from under the soil, everywhere), and they were thriving!

I waited for them to get a little more growth, and then decided to repot in a bigger pot (they looked like they'd need it badly). I did my best to take as much of them up with their current soil, and successfully did bring most up with their old soil sticking to their roots. Maybe four broke away (but I don't think any root damage occurred, or it was minimal if any).

I proceeded to put some new soil over them, and near the top the soil is mixed with wooden chunks (like you'd find in the wild).

I also put in a netty structure I made for it to grow onto. It was doing fine the first while. But I think I overwatered it once (giving enough water to make the soil damp from top to bottom) and suddenly I noticed the decline start.

They began wilting away (the edges began turning a silvery or white-grey color rather than brown like when they dry), and I just let the soil FULLY dry out before watering again.

It seemed to get better (or stop silvering), but I haven't seen much growth from it which is very odd for a grape vine.

Can anyone assist me by hepling explain what this silvering-graying issue is? What can I do to help my vine survive and thrive? Is it going to make it?

Thank you so much!

Here is a link that might be useful:

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Comments (4)

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
14 years ago
I'd cut off a twig with the symptom, and take it to a real plant nursery (not a box garden center like HD), and have them take a look at it. Sounds like some kind of mildew to me. You may need to spray them with something.

All grapevines go dormant in the winter (lose their leaves), and that is the time to replant them and prune them. It's really hard to kill a grapevine. Once they bud out, it's best to leave them alone and not re-pot until they go dormant again.

Winepress.US has great advice for grape growers. These are forums dedicated to wine makers and grape growers. Most growers put the vines directly into the ground, but there are a few who grow them in containers. I intend to become a container grower mainly because I want more vines, and don't have the room for them. There are tons of ways to prune the vines, and my container vines will be growin with a 4-5' high trunk, and branching down from the top, creating a tree like vine.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Forums Dedicated to Grape Growing
pharaoness
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for referring me to US winepress, I've received so much help there! I appreciate that so much, as I'd never have thought of going there myself because I'd think it's more related to wine making (even thought that should signal someone to think that people probably grow their own grapes to make wine, and would likely have the best idea of how to handle them). Thank you!!!
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
14 years ago
Good luck with your vine! I see Gregorio helped you! He is a HUGE vineyard owner with wonderful wine! He talks techie sometimes. He can't help delving into chemistry and technology, but he cares about your success. I suggest you google root growing containers, and buy one that will air prune your vine's roots, give it a lot more energy, so you can actually get some fruit of the vine!! Being root bound is the worst thing you could do to a plant, and those clay pots and plastic pots encourage just that! What kind of vine do you have? Seedless? Surely not a wine grape!
Suzi
pharaoness
Original Author
14 years ago
To tell you the truth, I am not too sure. It's just that we have a MASSIVE amount of wild grape vines growing in the area, and I know that they can fruit normally if tamed (pruned, trained, etc) properly, so I took little babies of the vine with their roots (as well as some of the sand it was growing in) and planted them. That's so great how you know Gregorio is helping me, he's really prompt and helpful! About these air pruning pots, are they expensive? I'll google that right away, thank you!