Vine cut back hard - how to deal with new shoots

martindow

A vine which is 30-40 years old was cut back to a stump during building works. To my surprise it has survived and there are now a lot of vigorous shoots growing from it.

I want to train it along wires fixed to the wall. Any advice on how to do this please?

In view of its age would I be better off digging it out and planting a new one - if so it is better to do it now or wait until autumn when the new plant would be dormant?

JP08

What do you do with the grapes ? (Assuming it's a grape vine).

If it's just decorative it's probably not going to die off any time soon - they can go on for a century or so according to Mr Google.

Waterlily24

When we moved here there was a large greenhouse with a big grapevine growing in it. It had been left for years and bits were sticking out of the broken glass windows. We had to pull the old greenhouse down because of it's condition and put a new much smaller one in. Hubby cut the grape vine right down and moved it to the new greenhouse and it's doing very well. We get the most delicious black grapes from it. They aren't very big (I think we need to take more bunches off or thin the bunches out) and have a stone in them but they are tasty lol!

martindow

Thanks for the replies. Yes, it's a grape vine, I've no idea which variety although it is very vigorous clambering up trees before it was cut back . It produces black grapes which only ripen fully enough to eat as dessert grapes in occasional good summers. I've mostly used them to make grape jelly.

May be I'd be better to replace it with a variety better suited to our climate. I'm in Berkshire.

DigForVictory

In the Napa Valley they replace vines every 25 years but they can last fine to 100, so unless you were *wanting* a difference, I'd appreciate the determined survival of this vine & read this article on assorted vine training techniques before setting about the vine with a shovel?

TonyMMM

Thinning the bunches (as in cutting out individual grapes) is important if you want large ripe grapes for eating.

martindow

Thanks everyone. I think I'll keep it and take more care thinning and keeping it pruned than in the past to see if I get better quality grapes.

Reading around, the advice for newly planed vines is to not allow them to fruit for a few years. Presumably this will not be necessary in my case as it must have an enormous root system by now!