My neighbor the grape grower, grows only organically and sprays nothing. Fungus is only a problem as the grapes ripen and is avoided by thinning the foliage to allow good sun penetration and air circulation. During dormancy last years growth is largely removed and burned. Here in the Napa valley wine country there is no summer rain to add moisture and contribute to fungus disease. Al

Almost in February so I am closer to the pruning time. I just want to make sure I am going to prune right, so I thought I would check in another time, offer some pictures and drop a possible bomb. Yes.. the neighbors adjacent to me would like to build a fence across their back yard, however the fence where my grape vines are hanging on the chicken wire would need to move out 3ft in the direction of the neighbors, so that they don't enclose my fruit trees in their yard (since I had planted my apple, cherry and peach trees on the outside of my fence). So now I really am worried I'm really going to screw up my grape production as the chicken wire has to come down and the grape 'trunks' and vine system needs to be swayed inward toward my back yard and trellised on wire. So here's what I have done so far. I freed the trunk vines out of the chicken wire (grew through it in places and would have had interrupted circulation in a couple years I suspect) and then tried to make sense out the tangled mess of vines with 1st, 2nd and 3rd year's growth (assuming I count the year I planted them as year 0.. like 7" tall sticks in 2007.. is that wrong?). The vines are more of less straightened and here's what I want to do.. The wood that is the lightest color at the tips of each arm is the summer 2010 wood, right? .. so I leave 30 buds on that for each arm I want to trellis, right? I bought 1/8" wire rope to thread through 2 sets of needle hooks I screwed in some 4"x8' posts I had already sunk in the ground. My idea is that I want to bend the vines from that back corner of the yard over to the right (as shown in these photos below). The arms of the vines will be attached to the two sets of wires that are 30" apart. Will this work? I realize I might be a bit unconventional, but my yard is truly cramped and if this works to get me good production, I'll be thrilled. My neighbor's house diagonally behind mine offers me no privacy, so I have thought of getting with my neighbor that has the welder in his garage, picking up some scrap metal and making a trellis to attach to the tops of the wooden posts, and then train some vines up there both for added production and screening of said neighbors. Nothing like them having a BBQ and looking uncomfortably in my back yard as the sweaty gardener has blackened hands and sweat pouring down his face. lol Here are the 'trunks' I have 2 plants, but all the compost and mulch I dumped over the last 4 years had caused the one plant on the left to split\root a few times looks like: From 01252011 This is just to the right of the trunks. Most of the vines are directed here, though I have a few really long ones on the right side out of the picture frame too. From 01252011 Here is where I am attaching the wire and directing those monstrous vines, so the wires will go from the trunks to the right and then make a right angle along the rear fence between those posts. From 01252011 Here is a shot of the whole setup: From 01252011 So please offer some recommendations of getting this thing in control without sacrificing much production. This will be the going into the 4th year of growth in the spring. Our lost frost date here is around May 5th I believe, so how long should I wait before I start pruning?

'Looks like an eight-spotted forester. They make beautiful little moths If there are wild grapes in your area, moving them to those wild vines would be the best thing to do. Just cut off the leaves they're on and put them on the wild vines. I thought I had a picture of an adult moth, but I could only find this picture of a caterpillar - They have an odd method of making their pupa - they burrow into soft wood. I'm not sure you'd have that among your cultivated vines. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: Eight-Spotted Forester

I'd cut off a twig with the symptom, and take it to a real plant nursery (not a box garden center like HD), and have them take a look at it. Sounds like some kind of mildew to me. You may need to spray them with something. All grapevines go dormant in the winter (lose their leaves), and that is the time to replant them and prune them. It's really hard to kill a grapevine. Once they bud out, it's best to leave them alone and not re-pot until they go dormant again. Winepress.US has great advice for grape growers. These are forums dedicated to wine makers and grape growers. Most growers put the vines directly into the ground, but there are a few who grow them in containers. I intend to become a container grower mainly because I want more vines, and don't have the room for them. There are tons of ways to prune the vines, and my container vines will be growin with a 4-5' high trunk, and branching down from the top, creating a tree like vine. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Forums Dedicated to Grape Growing