Grape and Lilac.

[boom64]

Hi All,
Collected a nice old grape in winter from my parents property. My father planted several a long time ago, so pretty happy to see good growth and if I can keep the birds away a couple of bunches of Black Muscat's….
Also a Lilac ,with a very nice piece of deadwood. Hopefully some flowers one day. Although a few years of growing to thicken up those branches. More Trees to look after sometimes I wonder about this hobby. Cheers John.

[anthonyW]

Very nice trees John, are you defoliating the grape often to reduce leaf, wondering will this impact on the grapes, I dug up one of my grape trees 16 mths or there about so have last years canes, so expect grapes this year, just wondering how many nodes I can cut back to,.... sorry lots of questions there mate,... any info would appreciate.

On my vine in the ground I cut back to 4 to 6 nodes.....but pot culture I am definitely a new boy on the block with this stuff, info very limited in my findings so far.

cheers Anthony

[Watto]

Good trees and I especially like the Lilac, it looks old. Good luck with them.

[KIRKY]

Love the Lilac. Great character in the trunk. Please keep posting on it
Cheers
Kirky

[boom64]

HI Anthony ,sorry to disappoint but I to am a newbie to this Grape growing as well. No defoliating the only maintenance I am doing is cutting back growth to keep in check .Just want to establish a good root system for next year . My fathers favourite saying regarding pruning was to Cut Back Hard ,and I think I will go with that. Maybe l only go for two buds next year. I will start asking around to see if I can get some info otherwise I will be following your advice..
Hi Watto and Kirky thanks for the feedback. I will updated in the future ,hopefully with a flower . The lilacs have been out the front of the house for as long as I can remember ,a mix of blue and white trees .Think this is a white one.
Cheers John.

[shibui]

How hard to prune grape depends on the health and vigour of the plant. Leave more buds on strong vines to get more fruit but fewer buds will usually give larger bunches of larger berries. I normally leave 2-3 buds on the vines in the ground.
Bonsai is different - much less about fruit, far more about shape so prune to leave buds in appropriate places to develop a good shape. Grapes bud well on older wood so you can remove new shoots completely if required and be reasonably sure that new shoots will grow nearby.
Allowing bonsai grape to develop fruit may put undue stress on the plant. You will need to provide adequate food and water to maintain health of the plant as well as fruit or the plant will suffer.

[anthonyW]

cheers John and Neil appreciate your feed back

Anthony