Pruning Part II

Have continued pruning.  Am trying for woody shoots out of the initial two shoots.  Like the picture below.

I have new found respect for the art of grape growing.  And I’ve never even tried making wine!

One thing I should add here.  I’ve read that if you are growing vines out in the field that you shouldn’t fertilize them.  I’m not doing that since in container gardening the constant water causes the nutrients to leach out of the soil and through the bottom of the pot.  I’ve been using granulated, MiracleGro for flowers and fruits and vegetables.  Although, let me just say I am skeptical that I will ever get grapes.

Pruning, pruning

I’ve been a little remiss in writing but a couple of weeks ago I finally did my first pruning.  I selected the strongest two shoots and pruned away the rest of all the growth.  Wondering, what it would be like to prune 10 to 20 acres of vines instead of three.  I took some photos, you can see them in my Flickr stream.

They’re actually plants!

Well it’s been almost 20 days, and it turns out that they’re actually plants.  Exciting stuff.  Well, I’m excited.  I’m starting to wonder what I have to do next.  I’m going to have to read the instructions that my three little vines came with.  I’ve been watering them regularly and fertilizing them with MiracleGro for flowers and fruits and vegetables.

Here’s a photo of Vine A that I took yesterday.

Another of Vine B also taken yesterday.

Vine C, also taken yesterday

 

Start of Week Three

I haven’t posted for awhile because every post would’ve been, “well, today they still look like sticks.” Kinda boring really. However, now there has been some significant change and I’m pretty excited. Here are the photos.

Vine A.

Vine A is the slowest growing of the three. I was worried about it.  And then a few days ago I realized that the trellis was blocking sunlight.  So I moved the trellis so that sunlight could hit the vine, and bam, and it started putting out new growth.  You can see more photos by clicking on my flicker stream in the flickr bar on the right hand column.

Vine B is doing pretty well, here are a few fotos.

So far so good.

And Vine C is really growing like a weed.

Yesterday was sunny and warm, in the low 80′s.  Today is rainy and cool.  Stay tuned!

Urban Vineyard Tips

 

Tie-on

Originally uploaded by Urban Grape Grower

Just a short note to show how I keep the trellises from blowing over in a storm. When you live above the 5th floor everything turns into a sail. I tie them to the railing with this plastic tie material that they use for tying up young trees. You can buy it at any nursery.

The Daily Vine

Great news!  Only day three and already signs of growth.

I have given them the very exciting names of vines A, B, and C.  I spent too many years in a lab.

In any case here are the photos, 

Vine A doesn’t look as good as the other two.

Here’s Vine B

And Vine C, which I think is the most exciting.

Vineyard Inhabitants

I’ve said I was going to go over the vineyard inhabitants.  They consist of various assorted other plants, and my farm dog, Chip.

See photos of other vineyard inhabitants