Author Topic: Sweetening grape vine's yeld  (Read 1123 times)

Plantinyum

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Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« on: September 15, 2021, 05:00:33 AM »
Hi ,i have this dessert grape vine, a white/yellow one that is just doing marvelous this year. The grapes are the best size that have ever been, the clusters are huge and the taste is very nice, they kinda sweetened up very nice compared to previous yelds where they have awlays been on the little sour side.
I am backing on wattering right now ,since i read that this generally concentrates the sugars in most crops ..
Does this work with grapes also? I read growers do it to wine type grapes ,what abbout dessert types ??
Any other way of increasing sugars with this fruit? Its late for this crop which turned out very nice btw ,i want to make this event a consistent occurance every year .

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the subject !!



Galatians522

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Re: Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2021, 10:06:29 PM »
I do not have personal experience, but I have read that girdling will increase the size and sweetness of bunch grapes. You just want to be very specific in how you do it so you do not damage the plant. I believe most grapes sold for fresh eating have been girdled.

Plantinyum

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Re: Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2021, 01:19:09 AM »
I do not have personal experience, but I have read that girdling will increase the size and sweetness of bunch grapes. You just want to be very specific in how you do it so you do not damage the plant. I believe most grapes sold for fresh eating have been girdled.
thanks, i will have to research this. Seems to me a bit too much as an practice done regularly on the plant, yet if comercials do it regularly , it must work and have no detrimental influence on the plants  .....


Plantinyum

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Re: Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2021, 05:39:04 AM »
It is indeed a common practice and is recommended by the University of California.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/Growing_Grapes_in_the_California_Garden/%3Fuid%3D36%26ds%3D436&ved=2ahUKEwiZ_5z-yYTzAhWEZzABHQoPDIgQFnoECCkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1BEdFc8mL7CGpbYjIGvsyq&cshid=1631832653548
thanks for the helpfull link, i read several studies and apparently it can be done two times a year with differing goals. I will try it on severall branches next year, itll be interesting for me to see the results on my particular grape vine, the difference if any should be visible between the girdled and non girdled parts.

Galatians522

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Re: Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2021, 08:01:53 AM »
I would only do it once a year. Double girdling weakens the plant much more than the once a year girdling. Most of the time it is only done on very healthy vines to hit a specific (earlier) market window. This should not be a major concern in the home garden. Even where it is practiced, they typically don't do it multiple years in a row.

Plantinyum

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Re: Sweetening grape vine's yeld
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2021, 02:49:57 PM »
I would only do it once a year. Double girdling weakens the plant much more than the once a year girdling. Most of the time it is only done on very healthy vines to hit a specific (earlier) market window. This should not be a major concern in the home garden. Even where it is practiced, they typically don't do it multiple years in a row.
yeah i will do only some of the branches on the vine, a few not more, in the time period after fruit set to attain bigger bunches and berries.  The late season/early fall procedure i will pass, apparently exactly the second procedure is done for the early ripening and sugar accumulation. It seems to me that itll be risky in my climate to do this,right before the cold months ,the vine wont have any time to heal the wounds so i will stick to the earlier girdling time frame.