Last year I bought 3 new grape vines. Two were concord-Thompson crosses. And one was a concord. The concord and one cross did not survive the winter. I bought another concord this spring. So far, they might be knee high. There is not enough growth to prune them. I have chicken wire around them to keep the deer off. I did build a trellis for them. I have watered and given them manure tea. They get lots of sun. This summer, I did get some good woodchips around them for a mulch. I have some metalic ribbons and pie tins hanging out there to discourage the deer so far. I have an elderly grape vine that is nearly dead. (it was here in 1987 when I moved here, and probably old then. It gets some small purple grapes when it gets grapes. I have no idea what those are. They are not for wine-making, but for table grapes IF I ever get any. It might be 3 years before I get to harvest any. They have not had enough growth to do any pruning, which has been recommended on various videos. I let my dogs mark in that area to discourage deer. We have lots of deer here. Concords are my favorites, but are difficult to find. Is there anything else to help them grow, and to keep the deer away? (those funky glow in the dark lights that look like eyes are very pricey.)
We have a lot of deer around here, and to protect any plant that we don't want to share with them, I hang hair balls. Not the kind the cat coughs up, but the toe of a stocking stuffed with human hair. Deer catch the scent and avoid the plant. If you don't want to shave your head, ask at a barber shop for trimmings. Beauty salons might also be a source, but dyed hair doesn't work for some reason. Also, deer loathe rosemary. A few rosemary bushes planted near your grapes will repel deer.Coyote urine also repels deer, rabbits, and raccoons. Despite rumors, coyote urine is not a condiment in Texas. It is expensive, because the collectors have to be paid an exorbitant salary. Good luck with your grapes!
I can plant some rosemary near my grapevines, and save hair from when I brush my hair to make some hairballs for out there. I can make more starts from my rosemary. Thanks for the ideas. I would think dog pee might work on repeling the deer.
I've heard that dog fur works for squirrels and rabbits. We have a lot of those. Maybe that would work on deer as well? My grapes went crazy this year, it's their second year. The first they did hardly anything. So I'm scouring YouTube to see how to prune them. Unfortunately I put them on an arbor and all the videos I've found, so far, are for rows of grapes (as in wine vineyards). Mine are growing up and over.
I just use my greenhouse shade cloth to drape over the grape vines. Protects from birds, rabbits and those naughty deer. We had lots of grapes this year. Very nice sweet small green and red grapes . Of course I just trimmed the vines off and laid them out on the ground. After a couple of days to dry a bit of course the naughty deer dropped by to remove all the leaves from the vines. Saved me a lot of work by removing the leave as the vines are always made into wreaths for the holidays …
