Vine
How to grow grapes
Vitis vinifera
Plant a grapevine between November and March against a warm, sunny wall or fence, or in an unheated greenhouse, in deep, free-draining soil that is not too rich. Outdoors, choose a variety bred to ripen in a British summer and resist mildew. The vine needs hard pruning every December, while fully dormant, and its summer growth pinched back. Limit the number of bunches, because an over-cropped vine gives small grapes that never sweeten.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy wood; fruit needs a warm site
- Position
- Full sun, warm, sheltered wall or under glass
- Soil
- Deep, free-draining; not over-rich
- Ideal pH
- 6.5 to 7.0
- Water
- Low to moderate outdoors; regular under glass while fruit swells
- Feeding
- Moderate feeder
Sowing and planting grapes
WhenPlant Nov to Mar; prune Dec to Jan; harvest Sep to Oct
Starting off
Plant bare-root or pot-grown Nov to Mar, cutting back to 2 to 3 buds. Propagate by vine eyes (single-bud cuttings) in Feb at 20 °C, or 30 cm three-bud hardwood cuttings outdoors in Nov. Outdoors: Boskoop Glory, Regent, Phoenix, Solaris; under glass: Black Hamburgh, Muscat of Alexandria.
Spacing and planting
Outdoor Guyot rows: vines 1.2 to 1.5 m apart in rows 1.5 to 2 m apart; wall or greenhouse cordons 1.2 m apart with wires 30 cm apart. Hole 60 cm wide over a rubble base; in a greenhouse plant outside and lead the stem in. A cordon crops a few bunches in a 45 cm pot.
Varieties worth growing
- Boskoop Glory
- The most dependable black dessert grape for outdoors: sweet, ripens in September on a warm wall, and has good disease resistance.
- Phoenix
- White grape with a light muscat flavour for eating or wine; strong mildew resistance makes it easy outdoors.
- Regent
- Mildew-resistant black grape for wine and juice, sweet enough to eat, with red autumn leaves.
- Solaris
- Very early white wine grape that ripens reliably outdoors even in cooler districts; good disease resistance.
- Black Hamburgh
- The classic greenhouse dessert grape: large, sweet black berries in an unheated house. Needs glass in most of the UK.
Grapes month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Finish winter pruning early in the month. Keep greenhouse vents open so the vine gets a proper cold rest.
- February
Do not prune now; the sap is rising. Root vine eyes indoors at 20 °C.
- March
Feed and mulch. Last planting of bare-root vines.
- April
Buds break. Fleece outdoor vines on frosty nights. Rub out surplus shoots, leaving the strongest at each spur.
- May
Tie in new shoots. Under glass the vine flowers: tap the rods at midday to spread pollen.
- June
Outdoor vines flower. Pinch fruiting shoots two leaves past the bunch. Top-dress vines under glass and in pots at fruit set. Begin thinning berries on dessert bunches.
- July
Reduce to one bunch per 30 cm of rod. Pinch sub-laterals to one leaf. Water greenhouse borders thoroughly.
- August
Remove leaves that shade the bunches. Net against birds. No feed once the grapes colour.
- September
Early outdoor varieties ripen. Taste before cutting: full colour comes two to three weeks before full sweetness.
- October
Finish picking later varieties and greenhouse grapes.
- November
Leaves fall. Plant new vines. Take 30 cm hardwood cuttings.
- December
Winter prune once fully dormant: cordon side shoots to one or two buds, Guyot vines to new canes.
Feeding grapes
A moderate feeder that needs potassium for fruit and ripe wood. Go lightly on nitrogen: a vine in rich soil grows metres of leaf and few bunches.
A potassium-leaning feed, too much nitrogen gives leaf, not fruit.
Feeding plan
Planting, November to March
5 g per litre of root-ball volume, in contact with the roots, once: 15 g for a vine from a 3 litre pot.
March
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
70 g/m², the lower end of the label. Each vine has about 1 m² of border: 70 g per vine. Skip it on a vine that grew rampantly last year.
March
20 to 35 g/m² (the label rate for fruit): 20 to 35 g per vine, scattered over the root area and watered in.
March, vines under glass and on dry wall borders
Garden compost
A mulch 5 cm deep over the root area to hold moisture.
Fruit set, June, vines under glass and in pots, once
Fruit & Vegetable Fertiliser 4-5-6
Border under glass: 50 g/m², 50 g per vine, scattered over the root area and watered in, which makes 120 g/m² for the season against a label limit of 150. Pots: 2 g per litre, 80 g for a 40 litre pot, watered in, at least six weeks after the March top-dress. The label gives no interval for top-dressing pots, so stop at these two.
Signs to watch
Older leaves yellow between the veins
Magnesium locked out by potash, the commonest vine disorder
Epsom salts as a foliar spray
Berries shrivel on the stalk (shanking)
Root stress from erratic water or over-cropping
Mulch, water evenly, thin bunches
Laterals over 3 m and few bunches
Nitrogen excess
Stop nitrogen, grass down
Pests, diseases and problems
Grey-white powder on leaves, shoots and berries; berries harden and split
Powdery mildew, worst when the roots are dry and the air is still
Water the roots and mulch, thin the shoots so air moves, and ventilate greenhouses freely. Outdoors grow resistant varieties such as Phoenix, Regent and Solaris.
Yellow, oily-looking patches on the upper leaf with white down beneath, in wet summers
Downy mildew
Remove affected leaves, keep growth tied in and thinned, and avoid wetting the foliage when watering.
Grey fluffy mould spreading through the bunch as it ripens
Grey mould (botrytis), in tight bunches and damp air
Thin the berries on dessert bunches in June and July, take off leaves shading the bunches in August, ventilate, and snip out the first mouldy berries with scissors.
Ripe berries pecked open or hollowed out
Birds and wasps
Net outdoor vines as the grapes colour. Slip fine mesh or organza bags over individual bunches where wasps are the problem.
Leaves finely speckled pale, then bronzed, with fine webbing, under glass
Glasshouse red spider mite in hot, dry air
Damp down the greenhouse floor daily in hot weather to raise humidity, and introduce the predatory mite Phytoseiulus when the pest first appears.
Raised blisters on the upper leaf surface with pale felt underneath
Vine erineum mite
Harmless to the vine and the crop. No action needed.
Pruning and harvest
Pruning and care
Winter-prune late Nov to early Jan only, while fully dormant, or it bleeds: cordon side-shoots to 1 to 2 buds; Guyot replaced yearly with 2 new canes of 8 to 12 buds tied horizontal. In summer pinch laterals 2 leaves beyond the flower truss, sub-laterals to 1 leaf, thin dessert bunches with scissors in June to July, remove leaves shading fruit in Aug; 1 bunch per 30 cm of rod.
Harvest and storage
Ripe 2 to 3 weeks after full colour, Sep to Oct, when the berries taste sweet and the stalks lignify; cut the bunch with secateurs holding a stem 'handle'. Established vines give 3 to 10 kg, one bunch per 30 cm of rod. Keeps 1 to 2 weeks cool and dark; juice, freeze, or wine.
Good to knowPrune hard in midwinter while fully dormant (later pruning makes it 'bleed' sap); thin the bunches for size and ripening.
Growing grapes in pots
A vine will crop in a 45 cm pot holding about 40 litres of peat-free loam-based compost, with the 4-5-6 mixed in at 5 g per litre (200 g). Train it as a short single stem to a head at about 1.2 m tied to a strong stake, or as a cordon up a wall, and cut the side shoots back hard each December. Allow no fruit for the first two years, then three bunches, rising to five or six. Water daily in summer and feed as above. Scrape off and replace the top few centimetres of compost every March with 2 g per litre (80 g) of the 4-5-6.
Grapes: common questions
When should I prune a grapevine?
Do the main pruning in December or early January, when the vine is fully dormant. Pruning later, once the sap is rising, makes the cuts bleed heavily. In summer you only pinch back the soft green growth, which does not bleed.
Why are my grapes small and sour?
Too many bunches is the usual reason: the vine cannot ripen them all. Allow one bunch per 30 cm of rod, thin the berries on dessert varieties, and wait two to three weeks after the grapes colour before picking. Outdoors, a variety not suited to the British summer will also stay sharp.
How long does a grapevine take to fruit?
A new vine should carry its first small crop in its third summer. Remove any flowers in the first two years so the plant builds roots and a framework, allow about three bunches in year three, and build up to a full crop from year five.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.