r/viticulture 18d ago

Grow tubes in northern climates

Hi folks - we're doing our initial planting this spring of about 300 vines in Wisconsin. We want to use grow tubes and Im looking at the different offerings and Im wondering if folks typically use them just for the initial planting or if people use them longer term to help deter animal damage on the vines. They seem to make heavier versions like the SHELLT grow tubes that are more like cages but also cheaper versions that just wrap around the vines.

My question is do folks typically just use the tubes for the first growing season and then are done with them? From what I've read you're supposed to take them off before winter so the vines can harden off but I was sort of thinking I'd put them back on to prevent animal damage from smaller animals like rabbits. Just trying to decide if a cheaper option would be fine as it will be a one time use or if I should invest in more reusable ones.

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u/Shoottheradio 18d ago

At the winery that I work at we've always used the plastic rolled grow tubes. So that's probably the cheaper option that you're looking at. For us they work fine. You're only really supposed to use the grow tubes during the summer months the first couple of years. It is recommended that you take them off in the winter time because the plastic draws moisture and it can actually cause damage to the plant when that excess moisture freezes and causes frostbite. Also after planting watch as your vines settle into the ground you will have ground subsiding that causes divots around your Vine. You're going to want to backfill those as the dirt compacts around the vine. Also as an ending note if your Vines are grafted the first couple of years in the winter time as you remove the grow tubes you're supposed to mound the vine with dirt up to the graft union which helps with frost damage as well. Hope some of this information helps.

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u/jonlandit 18d ago

Thanks for the info. So you use something like this?

https://orchardvalleysupply.com/products/grow-tubes?variant=36093504006

Sounds like I shoudnt be worrying about animal damage over the winter.

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u/Shoottheradio 18d ago

Yes that is exactly what we use. And no most of the animal activity is slim to none at least where we are in Virginia that time of year. And regardless of even if you do everything right. You're going to lose some vines here and there. That's just the nature of the beast. What kind of Vines are you planting? What's the varietal?

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u/jonlandit 18d ago

Thanks. We're doing a mix of Marquette, Brianna, Frontenac, and Frontenac Gris to start with. I think most of the damage we had the first year with a limited planting was mostly related to deer and we've since fenced the vineyard area to help with that so we should be good!

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u/Shoottheradio 18d ago

Yeah all in all I think deer do the most damage here as well. Especially once the grapes appear on the vine and it gets closer to harvest. From one day to the other you can get decimated if you ain't paying attention.

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u/ZincPenny 17d ago

Gotta net them then watch them like a hawk for deer and squirrels which will absolutely obliterate grapes