Yum! 🤤

I'm so glad I could help! I didn't know either and learned it from someone who did some landscaping for us, and the best part is it makes the winter clean up so much easier!

Thank you! This is my first time growing grapes and I feel like I've floundered a bit because we inherited these mature grapevines when we bought the property and I didn't know a thing at first! How long have you been growing grapes?

@@amonacres438 I am no longer new to this. My viticulture experience is about 30 years. Now I decided to create a channel in order to share my experience in growing grapes in the northern regions.

You are not alone in having overgrown grape vines! They can get out of hand so quickly! When we moved in they had taken over the cherry trees behind them and it was quite the task to get them under control. I have a tough love approach with most of our plants. If some need extra love I try to give them that attention, but in general I tend to just head right to the task. Glad to hear I'm in good company with this way of doing things!

It was! I always love garden projects that show immediate results!

You're welcome! I didn't know they should be pruned up either until a few years ago when I read an article by our local extension office. I am always amazed at all there is to know about gardening, it feels like I'm always finding new information and tweaking how I do things in the garden. For our area, the rule of thumb for winter pruning is to wait until after Presidents Day and then prune back the growth from the previous year while the plant is dormant, leaving the larger, older growth trunks and vines. However, we had a very late frost this year that killed off the primary buds in the area, it even left several vineyards in a bind as well, so I'd recommend looking up the extension office for your area and seeing what they recommend as a general rule, and then taking it year by year based on what the weather is looking like. I'd love to hear about your contain gardening! Do you have to repot every few years?

@@amonacres438 Yep...learn something new daily at the University of KZfaq, lol 😆 🖥️. I'll try just that, thank you. Only annuals have to be re-seeded of course...all others top dress and prune as needed. Going into my 4th year of gardening and really focusing more on building a back yard food forest...(citrus trees, fruit trees and brushes) 🌱🍊🍋🍏🍓🍇🫐 all the things, lol.

Wow, that sounds amazing! One thing I really miss is citrus in my backyard. I grew up in California and had tons of citrus trees in our yard when I was a kid, but Oregon winters are just too cold for them to make it here. I have a Dwarf lemon tree in a pot that I overwinter in the greenhouse but that's about it. Your food forest sounds like paradise!

Hello to a fellow caretaker of an elderly grapevine! I am not familiar with zone 10a but for our zone I tend to trim them back twice, once in early summer (late June) and once in later summer (sometime in August). The weather here can be a bit finicky, so I don't stick to a strict schedule and instead base it off of what the plant is doing. I try to keep the vines off the ground (to help with lawn care around them) and out of the trees, so when I see either of those areas begin to get overgrown I know it's time to trim it back a little.

They are safe from being Christmas dinner, they are all spoiled pets and very much enjoy how spoiled they are 😆

Thank you! I believe our vines are about 20-25 years old based on old satellite photos of the property, but I don't know for certain. I randomly propogated a cutting this year that I took off the base of one of the plants. It rooted just fine in a pot of soil without any rooting hormone. I'm not sure if I was just lucky or if other cuttings would be similarly successful for me from these plants. We are in a 8b gardening zone.

Great question! To some degree yes, but these grape plants are about 25 years old and had been pretty neglected prior to us buying the place, so a lot of what we do is tough love pruning with the understanding that not everything will make it because so much of the plants on the property are older and/or diseased.

Thank you for watching! The plants were here when we moved in, but when we looked up the satellite images of the property for past years it looks like they were put in about 15-20 years ago. In theory they are approaching the life stage (generally 20-25 years from what I understand) of decreasing their productivity due to age, but they've always produced beautifully for us.

I wish I knew. The previous owners didn't know the variety so we never found out, but they are a red grape and super tasty.

Thank you for the feedback! This was one of my earlier videos and I was still figuring out how to edit it together. Hopefully the more recent ones strike a better balance.

Bummer in the summer 🤷‍♀️

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for the feedback! This was one of my earlier videos and I was still figuring out how to edit it together. Hopefully the more recent ones strike a better balance.

Thank you for watching the video! I have found that the trimming happens multiple times during the growing season because the vines grow so vigorously. For our area that has fairly high humidity, keeping them trimmed up and allowing more light and air into the plant throughout the growing season helps combat mildew and pests that can weaken the plant. Of course, your milage may vary depending on your area because each zone and location can be so different. If you have a university extension office in your area they are a great source of knowledge for managing crops for your specific area.

The sheep love the grapevine trimmings!

They also probably enjoy the view. I know i would. Baaaa

Thank you for the feedback! This was one of my earlier videos and I was still figuring out how to edit it together. Hopefully the more recent ones strike a better balance.