New vineyards are always exciting and it is a good feeling when new growth occurs. Some vines grow very fast, while others struggle. The following suggestions may help reduce some of your young vine problems.
New vines can make considerable growth on the food stored in the stem.
If the vines start out fine, but stop growth after five inches, you may not have good roots. In early May to June, dig up a vine and see how the roots are doing. Poor root growth is a major problem and there are many reasons why the roots fail to grow. On the other hand, vines planted late will break buds and form new roots at the same time and this could be trouble if the soil water and drainage are not perfect. If there are no new roots, adding extra water, nitrogen, micronutrients, starter solution or any of the so called growth promoters will do more harm than good.