Grapevine advice?

19 years ago

(Crosspost)

I have a grape vine and it was doing wonderfully here in Chandler. I had about 8 big clusters of grapes. I was watering them regularly and just like that (*snap*) they shrivelled up and died last week. I did some online research and read that grapes require very LITTLE water and there's a good chance that I was overwatering them. (I'm seeing contrary information on watering, so I'm a bit confused. Some say water them ALOT, others say you almost never water them...even in the desert). I tend to think I drowned them if they shrivelled up like that.

That said, does anyone know how overwatering would affect the entire vine? Should I prune it all the way down and hope for success next year as I figure it's too late in the summer to hope for new buds? I'll be so upset if I killed it. Is there a way to save it? (I bought this home in December and was thrilled when this started blooming.)

Any recommendations?

Comments (3)

crista
19 years ago
Was it the whole vine that wilted or just the grapes? What kind of sun exposure do you have?
Aliza
19 years ago
If you're seeing wildly contradictory advice, perhaps you're mixing advice for people who want grapes to eat ("table grapes") and people who want wine grapes. Wine grapes, like chili peppers, thrive on adversity, responding to stresses like underwatering and subfertile soils by producing smaller grapes with concentrated flavors.
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DesertChildAZ
Original Author
19 years ago
Just the grapes shrivelled up and died. But now it appears that the leaves are starting to yellow.

The grapes were rather large and green when they wilted. I believe they were table grapes. I found out that the original owners of the home were the Macchiaroli's, possibly part of the family of the Macchiaroli Fruit Company, out of Higley, AZ. So I tend to think they didn't make wine, but made table fruit.

~ Kelly