# How old is this 10" diameter grapevine?



## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

DH and I have sold our victorian house in town and are buying (tomorrow we close) a six acre farmstead with the original late 19th century dog trot farmhouse on it. 

Today, my best friend and I went out there and were walking around the backyard of the house identifying stuff. There are several plums, pears, peachs, a fig and scads of blackberry bushes. Then we noticed something in the tree line, it looked liked grape leaves. So we started tracking them back and found the trunk. Yep, definitely grape and the trunk is about 10" in diameter at ground level. We found remnants of an arbor as well. I plan to clear out around the vine and prune it back heavily so that I can build it a new arbor.

My question is how old does a grapevine have to be to get that big? The main stem is about 10" but there are also other stems and the smallest of them is at least 5 inches in diameter. The house was built around 1890, could this be that old?


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> The house was built around 1890, could this be that old?


It could easily be that old or even a lot older:



> The "Mother Vine"
> The oldest cultivated grapevine in the world is the* 400 year old *scuppernong "Mother Vine" growing on Roanoke Island, North Carolina.[6] The scuppernong is the state fruit of North Carolina [7].


http://www.outerbanks.org/visitor_services/press_room/images/TheMotherVine_ManteoNC2.jpg


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...m=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&complete=1&tbs=isch:1



> ROANOKE ISLAND, NC (July 15, 2008) The oldest grapevine in America continues to bear fruit for the Outer Banks, where its sweet white Scuppernong grapes are found naturally nowhere else. Mother Vine Premium Scuppernong Wine was introduced to the world at a ceremony on Roanoke Island, where the Mother Vine has been cultivated *dating back 400 plus ye*ars. The first English colony in the New World, sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh, landed on Roanoke Island in 1584 and described &#8220;grapes of such greatness, yet wild, that France, Spain nor Italy hath not greater.&#8221; The Scuppernong variety of Muscadine grape Vitis rotundifolia is North Carolina&#8217;s official state fruit.


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Double posted


----------



## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

Kewl! I bet the farmer's wife who built the place planted all the fruit trees and the vine about the same time. Next question, will it hurt the grapevine if I severly prune it? In order to clean up around it and get the old arbor out of there so I can build a new one, I cannot see how to do it without giving the vine a severe haircut. We paced off the length of some of the branches and the longest one we found so far is about 30" from the base of the vine.


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

> Next question, will it hurt the grapevine if I severly prune it?


It probably won't kill it, but it may take a couple of years to produce grapes again.
It will be best to wait until Jan or Feb to cut it.

I wouldn't cut any more than I had to


----------



## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks for the info. The mother vine article was neat. Imagine any plant being that old! I love muscadines too. Make a killer good jelly out of them. With all the renovations and moving to do, it is a relief to know I can wait on the pruning project until later. I also have to rescue the fruit trees as the little "orchard" has been neglected for years.


----------



## Randy Rooster (Dec 14, 2004)

I think I would cut it back in stages over a few years to prevent shocking it too much.


----------



## swollen tongue (Mar 9, 2006)

when I was a kid(1960) our place in Ca. was built in 1882 and the grape vine there had a base of about 8" also the rose bushes were around 8-10 inches in diameter at the bases and 8 feet high and still blooming........I imagine they were planted at the time the house was built, and were probably 80 years old for sure.


----------



## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Did a visual on the fields while coming home this morning. In our cold season climate, the vines looked about five to six inches in diameter, with knobs at the top about eight to ten inches. These plants have been here for the 27 years I've been here, and probably much longer than that.

geo


----------



## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

geo in mi said:


> Did a visual on the fields while coming home this morning. In our cold season climate, the vines looked about five to six inches in diameter, with knobs at the top about eight to ten inches. These plants have been here for the 27 years I've been here, and probably much longer than that.
> 
> geo


That makes sense. This vine is in north Mississippi and we have mild winters so things tend to grow bigger faster.

After finding this and identifying the fruit trees, I cannot wait to get the time to do a thorough job of scouring the property to see what else is there. Already found a really old rosebush and an old forsythia as well. I am transplanting many of my plants from the victorian house we sold to the farmhouse and had planned a cottage garden so it looks like I have a good start.

I think the suggestion about pruning in stages is a good one. I will try to be gentle and still maybe get enough length off the vines so that I can sort of untangle everything to get an arbor under it. 

BTW since I will be cutting pieces off, can I root them to start new plants? If so, how does one do that?


----------



## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

RebelDigger said:


> BTW since I will be cutting pieces off, can I root them to start new plants? If so, how does one do that?


There are a number of sites which tell how to propagate grape cuttings but one of the easier to follow is:

www.gardenhive.com/fruit/grapes/propagate/stem-cuttings/

You'll want to wait until winter months when the vine is dormant. A local winemaking supply shop used to have bare cuttings available, usually in February.

Martin


----------



## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

RebelDigger:

I don't know if it is the same with domesticated grapes or not, but I have to deal with wild grapevines every year in the woods and fencerows. Usually, where a vine touches the ground, it will form new roots, then create new branches. Maybe you will have some along the length or branches of yours, too, and can clip and dig one of those. Worth a try...

I have seen grapes propagated in the field by taking one branch on one vine and then bending it down and covering it with soil to form a new one.....

geo.


----------



## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

when i tore down a failing concord grape arbor, i had a few vines run amuck along the edge of my garden. they would grow along the ground and up anything they could climb on. when i finally got around to cleaning the area, i found about a dozen or so plants from just one vine. indeed, nearly everywhere the vines touched the ground and there was a node, it formed roots and a new plant...or what could be a new plant.


----------

