Vine question

[elhuerto]

My wife just came back from the market with 6 bare root grape vines - €1.50 each which we thought was a bit of a bargain. I'm going to plant them in a row with wire between wooden stakes for tying up. What spacing would you suggest, I was thinking of 1.5m between plants or should that be a tad more?  I was going to put about 25% well rotted manure / 75% original soil back in the planting holes. Anything else to bear in mind?

Cheers

[elhuerto]

[daveylamp993]

My wife just came back from the market with 6 bare root grape vines - €1.50 each which we thought was a bit of a bargain. I'm going to plant them in a row with wire between wooden stakes for tying up. What spacing would you suggest, I was thinking of 1.5m between plants or should that be a tad more?  I was going to put about 25% well rotted manure / 75% original soil back in the planting holes. Anything else to bear in mind?

Cheers

Crikey. . That's a great price,i wish I could get some of those,what variety are they ?

[elhuerto]

She didn't ask but I'll find out next week when we get a few more.

[ed dibbles]

Not an easy one to answer regarding spacing since it really depends on if they are wine grapes, eating grapes or dual purpose.

Since you are in  northern Spain, and without knowing your exact soil type I assume it dries out quite a bit in summer. While this is not a problem for established vines newly planted ones will certainly need irrigation for the first year to get them established.

For wine grapes 1.5m (5' approx.) is a reasonable distance to space them, eating grapes a little further perhaps.

The manure is a good idea to retain moisture and hasten establishment.

But a great price and you should get some worthwhile fruit in a year or two.

[elhuerto]

Thanks Ed, that's very helpful. They will be wine grapes and good point on the irrigation.

[Vinlander]

Are these vines on their own roots? Seems likely at that price. I hope it means phylloxera isn't a problem in your part of Spain?

Personally, I find it quite unthinkable to buy any perennial fruit bush/tree without knowing what it is - the range of flavours and qualities is so wide - and extends from delicious to execrable.

For a given price it's always worth getting less plants of the best variety you can - it will usually be a heritage variety and/or one that has emerged as being the best 'backyard' variety. Commercial favourites are always 70%+ yield 20%+ vigour and often 0% taste.

If you can grow own-root vines safely then a couple of years on you can have scores of your own.

My advice is buy something special and plant it alongside - then you can judge for yourself. If not you can learn to graft.

Cheers.

[elhuerto]

Just a follow up and a quick question. 14 of the 15 vines planted are showing decent growth. A few are showing early signs of grapes forming - I assume it's best to remove these but is now the right time to do it or would it be better to wait a while?

I missed a couple of questions - they're Merlot / Tempranillo - very common in this area and they're not on their on root. I saw some similar but potted vines a month ago at €5 each in a local garden centre, which in itself seemed very reasonable and I may get a few more next year. Just out of interest, what would you expect pay in the UK for the bare root vines? I may have an ebay idea ;-)

Cheers!