Grape (vine): Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you plant grapevines?
Choose a grapevine variety suited to your climate and intended use, table or wine grapes. Give it a warm, sunny, sheltered position with well-drained soil. Plant bare-root vines during dormancy, avoiding frozen or waterlogged ground; in cold areas, early spring can reduce winter damage to young plants.
Install a sturdy support before planting. Dig a hole wide enough to spread the roots without bending them. For a potted vine, keep the planting level from the pot; for a grafted vine, keep the graft union above the soil. Follow the supplier's instructions for spacing and planting depth of bare-root stock.
Backfill, firm gently and water. If the soil is poor, add well-rotted compost without excessive nitrogen fertiliser. Mulch while keeping the trunk clear and monitor moisture during establishment. Tie young shoots to the support loosely. The vine will then need regular pruning and training suited to its growing system.
How do you prune a grapevine for its training system?
Choose a training system suited to your vine before pruning, such as a spur-pruned cordon or Guyot with replacement canes. Bunches develop on the current season's shoots from buds on the previous year's wood. Do not remove all that wood indiscriminately.
Do the main pruning during dormancy, after leaf fall and before sap flow resumes. Early winter often suits garden vines; adapt timing to your climate. Late pruning can cause sap bleeding. Keep the framework and useful buds for your chosen system rather than cutting every cane back to two buds.
During growth, train new shoots and remove unwanted or crowded ones. Adapt pinching and bunch thinning to the plant's vigour and age. Do not routinely strip the vine of leaves: retain enough foliage to feed the fruit. Use clean tools and follow a pruning guide for your training system.
How do you harvest grapes?
Ripeness depends on variety, climate and growing conditions, usually from late summer into autumn. For table grapes, taste a few berries from different parts of the bunch and harvest when they have the flavour and sweetness you want. Colour alone and berries coming away easily are not enough to judge ripeness.
Grapes do not ripen further after picking. Cut the whole bunch with its stalk using clean scissors, supporting it to avoid damage. Do not pull on the berries or vine shoots. Discard mouldy or spoiled fruit.
Eat the bunches promptly or keep them briefly in the fridge without crushing them. Wash before eating. For wine grapes, harvest timing also depends on the desired balance of sugar and acidity; do not automatically use the same timing as for table grapes.
Grape (vine)
- Type : Fruit trees
- Botanical Family : Vitaceae
Characteristics
- Exposure : Full Sun
- Frost Hardiness : Frost Resistant
- Cultivation Difficulty : Easy
- Mature height : 200 cm
Sowing & Planting
- Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
- Plant Spacing : 100 cm
- Row Spacing : 300 cm
Maintenance
- Maintenance : High
- Water Requirements : High
Other characteristics
- Soil Type : Humus-rich
- Soil pH Preference : Neutral
- Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
- Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
- Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
- Pollination : Insect-pollinated
- Propagation : Cutting