I let a section of my vineyard go for a couple of years and tried to rehabilitate it this weekend. I found that a couple of vines had died but, fortunately, neighboring vines had used my absence to grow several long branches which reached to where the dead vines had been located.
I dug trenches about a foot long, with one end starting where the dead vine had been. I then put the long branch from the neighbor vine into the trench, with the end of the branch sticking up from the soil where the dead vine had been.
I used a root propagating chemical to dress the portion of the vine which was underground, then buried it. Hopefully, these treated vines will put out roots underground. Next summer, I plan to cut the end of the long branch going to the neighbor plant and have a new grapevine.
Any problems I should watch out for in this operation?
Paul