Thank you! I have one more question. I have three grape vines, and they're planted only 3' apart. Should I remove the middle vine entirely? They don't seem to have any problems being that crowded, but I've only had them for a year, so I'm not sure.

Mine are about that distance maybe a tad more, they have no issues. Don't try to fix what isn't broken LOL .........I am not sure about getting the grapes to train that far way from their main stump. Why can't you build the trellis directly up/over the top of the old fence?

It's good you left a few canes because that is where this years clusters come from. Next year, cut back those old canes and leave 2 or 3 more. Cut those down to 3-5 nodes a hand apart. Inside of each node is a new cane and a cluster. Harvest the cluster and cut the new can back to 3 - 5 nodes. It's a magical thing. Not hard once you get it.

Thanks, I think I have the idea now. About 95% of the shoots I have right now are non-fruiting ones, because of the severe pruning I did back in early spring. I think I'll keep most of them alive, and then when the vine is dormant again, I'll choose 4 to be next year's fruiting canes, and cut the rest back to 2 buds as renewal spurs.

I have some shoots that are coming right out of the ground. I'll probably prune those now, since they don't stand a chance of being selected fruiting canes next year. The rest, I'll leave alone for now.

> Why can't you build the trellis directly up/over the top of the old fence?

I was planning on building a t-shaped trellis like this (youtube), and I don't want the trellis to hang over the neighbor's side of the yard. But looking at it more closely, I suppose it doesn't need to be t-shaped. If I just run a couple wires in between posts, then I could keep it closer to the fence.

What space do you have horizontally and vertically? If tight I would consider a multi-trunk fan approach. For me 3' seems tight and if you have space to expand I would wait for dormancy and then transplant in the spring (unless they are mature and then I would just leave them because you have good roots.

Check out:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ7llYhkcOS5eBIS9nMy4LA

Full of awesome grape videos.

For you it would probably be:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKmN59GZhaQ

Those videos are awesome, thank you. The vines seem to be very mature, and so I'm reluctant to move them. Luckily, I already followed the advice in video #32 and I pruned the trunks down to about 24". The PDF in the first reply says that for grapes commonly grown in my area, I should use the four-arm kniffin system, so I think I'll build a trellis for that soon. That'll allow me to build the trellis close to the fence. I was previously planning on doing a double-curtain method, which would have required a t-shaped trellis that is a couple feet away from the fence, but it looks like I won't have to do that.

Grapevines are incredibly trainable and there is no one way to grow a vine. Come up with a plan and then prune to the desired result. I had an 8' span to work with on my 'Crimson Seedless' vine, so I went with a double tier of cordons. The top tier also serves as a privacy block for the windows behind it.

There are tons of examples on the Internet, so find a style that suits your needs.

For general grape pruning instruction:

What type of grapes are they? Table vs wine. Seeded vs seedless. Do you know if they are particularly vigorous? How much space do you have for them to grow?

I am no expert but in general you want good sun exposure, enough leaf area to ripen the quantity of grapes you want to bear, enough space to avoid crowding and good airflow to prevent fungus/disease.

So it depends on your rain/humidity, solar exposure and wind exposure situation is like. If you are growing table grapes of a vigorous variety the Geneva Double Curtain could be very interesting. For the same horizontal space you have 2x the vine length but it will take up more width. It will also bring your vines 6' off the ground and away from the fence which would give more solar exposure and better airflow.

But honestly, try whatever you want, if you don't like it cut back to the trunk during winter and start over, you are only 2 years behind. Build the structure this year and get grapes next year.

Have fun, other than diseases grapes are super easy. Do some research on bagging grapes with Ziploc and organza bags to help with fungus/insects/birds.