Where do you purchase your grape vines?

[chetgunderson]

Other then the standard garden centre, I would like to buy from growers or even a vineyard. Is this possible?

[LANDM]

From a nursery. Grape growers/vineyard owners would have no reason to have vines for sale, typically.
And, a commercial nursery will typically not sell one or two (although I realize you didn’t specify a quantity).
What’s wrong with buying from a garden centre? That is the business they are in.

[Coonhound]

Ricks Garden World on Casorso. Think I bought 9 originally. Paid about 12 dollars each if I remember. Took 2 years to get grapes. Need to thin the vines back this year.

[Coonhound]

The other thing u could do. Find someone who has vines. Take some cuttings. Put the cuttings in water. Keep in water for a few days. When you take the cuttings from the water you need to have a razor blade ready. Your going to go back to the nearest or best looking node. Recut your vine there leaving the node.cut at 45 degree angle just below that node. ( a node is a place where a bud or branch will form. Looks like a bump on the vine ) Get a rooting solution such as stim root. Use stim root or another rooting solution as directed on the package. Essentially dip the vine tip in rooting solution and plant in jiffy pucks. Wait till you see roots. (Takes weeks) then plant in pots or directly in the ground. Ya 12 bucks seems cheap doesnt it.

[chetgunderson]

Thanks for the responses. I put this out here because I wanted to see if there were any direct to consumer vines sales locally vs. buying random generic stock and vines. Doesn't sound like that, expect get the cuttings.

[seewood]

I bought some years ago ( like 15 years ago) from a grower down around Oliver.
I also bought some from a winery that had extra from a planting they did earlier. A varietal that worked for me.
Depending how many you need, the growing from cuttings is a good way. You get the variety you want, not what the winery had left over from a variety that might not work for you. Get cuttings from an established good healthy grape plant. As mentioned above, I started with water then before long transplanted to those Styrofoam trays the tree nurseries use.
They can dry out in the trays so water every other day is important.
Ended up with some great plants.
Eventually had 100 plants here and more than enough wine for personal consumption. Found I didn't have the passion as others did to make wine so all came out and put a 25 X 30 shop in to replace . Hardy's wine from Australia is cheap good wine.

[TylerM4]

Commercial growers order by the 100 and do so at least 6 months in advance. Backyard growers typically go to their local garden supply and pay.

Had I known, I'd have given you some of my cuttings. Unfortunately, they've been on the ground for over a month now and I doubt they are still viable. If you want to get a few plants from someone else, you should put your feelers out during the pruning season (January & February). It's just a waste product for growers and most will be happy to let you take some of the prunings away.

If you're still looking next year, message me early January and I'll let you know when they're ready for you to take. Assuming you want table grapes (seedless), I don't have any wine varieties sorry.

[TylerM4]

Ricks Garden World on Casorso. Think I bought 9 originally. Paid about 12 dollars each if I remember. Took 2 years to get grapes. Need to thin the vines back this year.

Let me know if you'd like some pruning help/instructions. Ideally you'd do this while the plant is still dormant (Jan/Feb) but you could get away with pruning ASAP as I doubt your grapes will exhibit much "bud swell" yet. Most people do not prune grapes appropriately. For best results you should remove about 80-90% of the vines. To most who don't have experience it seems like you're removing WAY too much so they leave too much as a result.

[Coonhound]

Ricks Garden World on Casorso. Think I bought 9 originally. Paid about 12 dollars each if I remember. Took 2 years to get grapes. Need to thin the vines back this year.

Let me know if you'd like some pruning help/instructions. Ideally you'd do this while the plant is still dormant (Jan/Feb) but you could get away with pruning ASAP as I doubt your grapes will exhibit much "bud swell" yet. Most people do not prune grapes appropriately. For best results you should remove about 80-90% of the vines. To most who don't have experience it seems like you're removing WAY too much so they leave too much as a result.

Love some advice.

[TylerM4]

Love some advice.

Sure, I'll try to keep it simple.

1st off, my advice will be "general" assuming a healthy plant and a normal pruning circumstance.
How you prune will change a little depending on factors listed below:
- Your trellising system.
- Dealing with disease AKA need to cut away diseased wood.
- Desire for plant propagation (eg - the plant beside has died and you want to replace it. If you have a healthy plant beside one that has died you generally don't plant new)
- Decorative application (eg you have a gazebo frame you want plants to grow on).
- Age of plant. I'm assuming your plants are mature and at least 3 or 4 years old.

Things to check/do before you start pruning:
- Ensure plants are dormant. This is weather dependent, but in the Okanagan January and February are usually good/safe times to prune.
- Sanitize your pruners. Don't spread disease by using a dirty scalpel ;)
- Ensure pruners are sharp and adjusted properly. You want a nice clean cut to reduce damage and likelihood of an cut becoming diseased.
- Put on eye protection. It's super easy to poke yourself in the eye with a pruning. I've lived and grown up on farms, spent way too much time pruning way too many different types of plants/trees and grapes are the only ones I recommend eye protection for. Trust me on this.
- Mildew and mold love grapes. 90% of grape problems are related to mildew and mold type problems. Even in the winter months, the vines are covered with the stuff. If you are sensitive to mildew/mold I recommend wearing a dust mask or a respirator if you're really sensitive. Same thing for gloves and other protective clothing. Doesn't seem to bother me tho.

The pruning is actually quite simple if you break it down into 3 steps:
Step #1)
Buds only reliably form on last season's wood/vines. Anything more than 1 season old should be cut away (with exception of your main trunk of course). You can tell it's "old wood" by the look of the "bark". Last season's wood won't show anything that resembles a bark but older wood will.
Step #2)
Pick 4 or 5 vines you want to keep from last season. Which vines you keep vs discard is mostly a result of positioning. The ones remaining we'll shorten right down in the next step so there isn't a need to keep only the big vines, etc. Generally speaking the ones you choose to keep are the ones that are growing from the right spot in the right direction. This is where your trellising system comes into play. You want to keep the vines that will propagate best across the trellising system. Usually this means keeping the vines that sprout off near the top of your main trunk, and keeping a vine that goes in each direction. Once you know which vines you want to keep, cut out all of the other vines. Yes, you really do want to leave only 4 or 5.
Step #3)
Shorten your remaining vines to 4 or 5 nodes/bud sites per vine. This will usually mean cutting 3/4 or more of the vine away. The end goal being that you want to leave a total of 20 to 25 bud sites/nodes per plant.

If you've followed the above steps you'll notice that you've cut away 80-90% of growth and be left with nothing more than a main trunk for 4 or 5 vines that are only 2 or 3 feet long. It seems like way too much pruning, but that's the perfect amount - remember these are vines not trees.

Final disclaimer There are different methods for pruning. The above method is how I was taught when working on a commercial vineyard in the Okanagan, but there are other methods. Some of those other methods are also commonly used here in the Okanagan and would also be appropriate. As always - more than 1 way to skin a cat!