Thanks very mug fruitnut you made me feel a bit less worried. I decided to go with red flame because I didn't even see the variety you suggested. There was only red flame and ruby, and I read ruby was very auspectible to powdery mildew or something, and I thought my current grapevine is doin well so I'll get another. I can eat a lot of grapes!!! (or I guess I'm going to be of they ripen all at once...) How does one know if nematodes are present? Just inspect some of the soil? My old house at nematodes in some of the regular plants now that I know what they look like. Nasty lookin things.

Galina: Best bet is probably two wires, one on each side running parallel to the fence but higher and wider. Say 12-18 inches higher and wider on each side. Distance determined by length of canes when they begin snapping off. You can tie each cane to that wire or some will grab ahold via their tendrils. Maybe you can find something better, another support system. Mine snap off at about 18-24 inch length. They harden off soon after that and can't be ripped out.

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?

What kind are they? Are they grafted or own root? Grafted vines are on rootstock that is hardy to disease. In California we fear Pierces disease spread by the glassy winged sharpshooter. It has wiped out many vineyards. There are many kinds of diseases and mildews that can affect vines. And, they can get freeze damage also. Does your neighbor spray round-up? Riding on the wind, that can also hurt your vines.