grapes not blooming

[allengardener]

Hi All

I'm new to the forum, just registered today. I live in Allen and thought i should get involved in this forum to get help on my new hobby: fruit and vegeable gardening.

I'll start with the first problem. I planted a grape vine few years ago and have been pruning it diligently every year as per some instnructions on the Internet. The vine however is not fruiting well at all! Last year it had only one cluster (it's 4th year) and this year too only one cluster. does anyone know what could the problem be?

The vine is otherwise very healthy with lots of foliage and hardly and pests. i dont know the variety but bought it in Sams club i believe.

Thanks for help!
--Allen Gardener

[Brian Gallimore]

Hi, I'm in Allen also!

I'm at a loss for the real answer, but I've heard of tomato plants that don't bloom because there is too much nitrogen in the soil... the plants put out lots and lots of green growth, but never got around to making flowers.  I wonder if this is what is happening with your grapes?  I'll search around and post anything I find here.

[Frank]

Hi, Allen -

Just saw your post and called our Chief Analyst for his opinion.  Grapevines need to have stored energy in the form of sugars and carbohydrates when they go dormant in the Winter.  These provide the energy for blooming and fruiting the next season.  Grapes are what we consider a crop with special nutritional needs - Phosphorus is particularly important.  You said something very telling - that the vine appeared healthy with lots of foliage.  This suggests that it may have too much Nitrogen.

Here are links to our grape papers that you may find of some interest - even though they are written for the commercial grower:
http://www.texasplantandsoillab.com/PDFs/grapes/GRAPE-GUIDE.pdf
http://www.texasplantandsoillab.com/PDFs/grapes/grapes-vineyard-nutrition-notes.pdf
http://www.texasplantandsoillab.com/PDFs/grapes/GRAPE-PETIOLE-TEST-3P.pdf - See Page 3.

Here is the link to the grape page on our website: http://www.texasplantandsoillab.com/grape-testing.asp

We take grapes very seiously and we're going to two grape grower events in West Texas this month.  We're a member of ISEV and a very active member in TWGGA...

Lemme know if we can answer any questions.

Frank-