I so hope someone can help with this. I have two, two year old table grape vines in the hottest part of my yard in the sunniest part of San Francisco. They typically get about 4 hours of sun and a lot of heat all day long. I pruned them in November, they seem healthy with lots of growth and leaves however they have not produced any flower at all.This is my second try at growing grapes, my previous try was with wine grapes - same problem, no flowers even after 3 years. Will I ever get flowers on my vines?
I have 1 Niagara and 2 Pinot Noir vines, all planted 3 years ago. This year I have one grape cluster coming on the Niagara vine. Hopefully more next year. I think 3 years is the magic number in many cases but can take longer.
Many vines need direct sun exposure to develop fruiting buds (as opposed to vegetative buds). Pinch off or prune leaves to expose the spurs and buds you will leave in your next dormant pruning, that is the buds you expect to grow into next year's shoots. Nip off the tips of this year's shoots after they get to ~20 leaves (after you've opened up around the stem) to force the growth into the roots. Make sure the spurs you leave are the ones you exposed (I'll take a photo if I'm paying special attention to a particular vine). Ralph
Hello Ralph Walton, Thanks for that tip on summer pruning ,or I guess leaf plucking would be a better term.Could you say a little more regarding which grape types are more responsive to this technique.I have several types that get pruned every winter but produce few grape clusters.The Niagaras seem to do well no matter what I do with them while the one Himrod vine I've had for over ten years never produces.My pinos gray has finally started to produce after waiting ten years.I've been spur pruning it and leave about 50 buds . thanks Dan
