grape vines

Hi, my neighbor has some mature grape vines that produce lots of grapes for jam each year. She no longer wants to take care of them and they are in a weird spot anyway. I would like to move them into more sun and a better spot where I can take over their care. Any body ever do this with mature plants? How large are the roots on these guys? I am planning to do it about the time she normally cuts them back for the winter, in a couple of months.

thanks for any help!

jacqueline

I'm sorry I can't answer your questions, but I can tell you what I have done. I would take cuttings with 2 - 4 eyes and about the diameter of a little pinkie. I planted the cuttings in plastic gallon cans leaving 1 eye above ground. Then I ripped out the old grapevine.

If you transplanted the grapevines, you would have to do some heavy pruning to compensate for the root loss and it may take quite a while for the vine to recover. You might have better success with cuttings and it's easier on the back.
Veronica

How long until your cuttings produced grapes?

Thanks for the advice!

We moved 2- 4 year old vines last year. They produced gallons of grapes before we moved them. This year they did produce a handful each. But where we dug them up from...there are LOTS of babies coming back, so I am going to have to dig them up this fall.
I figure since we did get a few grapes this year...they will be ok next season, just went into a bit of a shock.