Q&A for How to Grow Grape Vines

After first planting a bare root vine, expect to wait three years for your first good grape harvest.

Wait until early spring and cut back 90% of the vine. This will give your vines a fresh start and allow them to direct their energy to new growth.

You can. In fact, there is a wikiHow article on this: How to Grow Grapes From Seeds. But be prepared to wait. It will probably be three or four years before you see real bunches of grapes.

Pick the right kind, the one that needs warmth, like American, give it something to climb on, and it should grow.

Yes, you should. If they are loose enough, you can simply pluck them off. If they are still firmly attached to the vine, you can snip them off with a clean pair of scissors instead.

Plant it in a pot, give it a stick or something else for support. Transplant it to the garden In spring.

For best results: Taste a grape before picking the cluster to see if they are fully ripe. Color is not an indicator, though the natural coating should be more apparent the closer to ripe they are. Pick ripe grapes just before a rain if possible, as rain will either make the grapes split or lose flavor.

Yes. A reader transplanted one that was about 30 yrs old when it was dormant and ten years later it is still going strong.

Use mulch, it absorbs all the water as the grapes grow much more quickly than nothing there at all. It will also help the grapes to grow more refreshing and most of the grapes will not go moldy when mulch is in place.

Fruits appear on 1-year-old can type growth. On older cans nothing or very little appears. You might have cut 1-year-old growth. This new growth should give you fruit next year, and big bunches of it.

Yes, but I would move the pot indoors so the plant doesn't freeze during the winter.

Full sun. Anything else and it will grow slowly and maybe never produce fruit.

As it says in the article above, yes, but the cutting must be 3 nodes long (the nodes will look like bumps). The bottom of the cutting should be cut at a 45 degree angle. Bury the cane just up to the bottom node. All 3 nodes will be above ground. In the future, for the health of the original plant, make cuttings only when the plant is dormant.

Excessive watering can hurt your vines. I've had my vines for 3-4 years and never water them and they fruit each year.

You can create new grapes by crossbreeding the flowers of two separate grapes, giving the new grape desirable qualities (taste, hardiness, etc.). However, it can take a long time, up to several decades, for the new fruit to fully take.

It sounds like they're not getting fully pollinated. Grapes are pollinated by wind and insects (not bees). It's possible you're using insecticides close to the grapes.

A single grape can fruit on its own. No need for a pollinator. Most varieties of bunching grapes are self-fertile. When a fruit bush or vine is self-pollinating, you only need to grow a single plant in order to produce fruit. Many varieties of fruits are self-infertile, meaning you need at least two plants to produce any fruit at all.

You are probably not pruning the vines enough. Grape vines need to be severely pruned each year to produce large grapes. See YouTube for examples.

Yes, you can grow grapes in the Philipines. Growing grape vines in the Philippines is best for the Red Cardinal Grape, White Malaga and many more because of the temperate climate. You can harvest the grapes 3 times a year.

Not sure how you support your grapes, but wait until mid-winter, if you have winter, and cut back the main leader (lateral branches). Cut off all old growth and leave this year's growth on, trimming back to 5-6 inches long (cut above a bud). Grapes grow on one-year-old branches. Branches that grew this year will produce next year.

You stated grape vine so I am assuming you have only one vine. Grapes to need to pollinate so you need to plant another vine to get that going. Pruning late winter/early spring is important as well.

Mulched grapevines benefit when gardeners use a mulch type that contributes nutrients as decaying matter decomposes - however, many farmers advise use of an inorganic mulch such as rubber chips, plastic sheeting or non-woven geotextiles to prevent the spread of pests through mulch. If you intend to use an acidic mulch, keep it out of contact with the grapevine, as it can burn the vines.