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What shall I do with surplus Grape vine cuttings

 
Jenny Ives
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We have lots of old grapevine prunings. More added to last year's.  Stuff doesn't rot. Is there a good way of processing the unwanted pruned vines?

I did try decorate around newly planted fruit trees with grape cuttings but my husband did his nut in 🤷‍♀️
 
Jane Mulberry
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I'm going to have the same issue when I finally make it to my little place in Bulgaria. There's a wild area that's a grapevine tangled jungle, and even the rate the grapevines in the less wild areas grow makes for a lot of prunings.

When I lived in Australia and had huge piles of cuttings from just two grapevines, I could make grapevine wreaths and there was a farmers/craft market to sell them at.

Can they be chipped and used a mulch, or do bits with buds still try to sprout? Can they be dried and tied in bundles to use in a fire?

I don't know, but I'd like to!

I'm only 65! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
Jenny Ives
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The vines play absolute havoc with the chipper.  I did lay vine down along the fence line hoping it would rot or shoot.  Hubby had a nightmare trying to clear the fire break.  Vine tanglingbhus blades.

Maybe we just burn them and use the ash in the garden.



 
Jane Mulberry
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That's also a good option. :)

I'm only 65! That's not to old to learn to be a permie, right?

 
Anne Miller
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Do you add both brown and green materials to your compost?

Have you tried trench composting where you dig a trench, put stuff in and bury it with dirt?

One guy has be saying that an easy way to compost stuff is to take a garbage can and put holes in the bottom and put stuff in, put on the lid and set it in the sun for a while.

Invasive plants are Earth's way of insisting we notice her medicines. Stephen Herrod Buhner
Everyone learns what works by learning what doesn't work. Stephen Herrod Buhner

 
Heather Sharpe
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Jenny Ives wrote:We have lots of old grapevine prunings. More added to last year's.  Stuff doesn't rot. Is there a good way of processing the unwanted pruned vines?


I wonder why they aren't rotting. I have lots of vines I've cut from the rowdy wild grapes in my yard and they break down quite nicely. I just leave them where I cut them and in a fairly short time, they can be easily broken up into mulch by hand or by stepping on them.

I like using the prunings to make baskets. They make good spokes for the basket and if they're long enough, for the weavers too. I've also made quite a number of wreaths out of them. I've toyed with the idea of using the really long ones to make woven fence to keep out bunnies and whatnot, but haven't gotten the time to do it. Obviously, your options for such crafts would depend greatly on the length of prunings you have.

“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.” ~ Robin Wall Kimmerer

 
Ben Zumeta
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My buddy with an organic vineyard flail mows the prunings to help them get ground contact, which helps them break down, reduce erosion and soil crusting.

This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory

 
Jay Angler
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1. The key to putting then in our chipper (mind you it's a large one) is that I cut them into ~1 ft lengths into garbage cans as I prune them.
2. Keeping on top of them while they're tender and green helps reduce the problem in the winter, but takes time in the summer. I let them wilt enough that I figure they won't root and then add them to a compost.
3. Make biochar out of them. The trench method would be best for grape vine cuttings.
4. Use them as a wattle border for raised beds - you might only get 3-5 years out of them, but if it was quick to do, as it biodegraded it would still be building soil.

Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
How permies.com works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads

 
Jenny Ives
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These are old unkept vines. Smallest pruning I'm struggling with is at least a broom handle thick.

We've made a few piles which have shrunk cause I like hideout rugs for bugs and perches for birds.

Probably need to go smaller, have more patience and stop putting them where hubby has to work.

Might need to start weaving.
 
Jay Angler
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Jenny Ives wrote:These are old unkept vines. Smallest pruning I'm struggling with is at least a broom handle thick.


Do you actually want to keep the vines and the varieties? Are they growing up trees? Have you considered using your pruning saw fairly near the bottom, but then just leaving the vines hanging in the trees for several years to go through wet/dry/hot/freeze cycles? (maybe not if you're high wild-fire risk, though). That way they'll already be on the way to decomposing when you go to drag the vines down and have less structural integrity. Depending on what height you do this at, the vine may will survive and put out new, easier to manage shoots.

Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
How permies.com works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads

 
Jenny Ives
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Yes we want the vines it's just they've not been cared for, for many years.  Year 1 we observed and intervened minimally.  Unfortunately they are damaging the plum trees.  We have left some chopped vines hanging in tree and will remove after plums have set(?).

Vines are like rough old rope (nylon at that)!!

I think I'll cut into smaller pieces and dig in around the newly planted fruit trees.  Keep hubby happy and they can help shore up water around the trees.
 
Ben Zumeta
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This beastly set of loppers has helped a lot with breaking down trees and thick vines up to 3” thick.

Wondering why “dig in” the grape cuttings? To root and grow? Id just be mindful of the sensitive shallow feeder roots of the fruit trees mentioned. At 1ft lengths or less they’d make good mulch too.
image.jpg
these loppers with a blade the size of a condor’s beak cut up to 3” wood
these loppers with a blade the size of a condor’s beak cut up to 3” wood

This is all just my opinion based on a flawed memory

 
Jay Angler
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Ben's loppers do look serious, but I'd be limited by strength. I've got a pair similar to this picture. It has an extra bar that acts as a force mulitplier but still operates as a single stroke:


Then if things are *really* serious, we pull out what I call, "the gorilla chompers" that are ratchet style. The down side of these is that you have no choice but to ratchet them the 4 times, so the are much slower to use than the simple force multiplier one above.



Both of these are shown as anvil loppers, but my force mulitplier ones are bypass which are better for certain jobs.

This sounds like a big job, and you may have the muscle strength to do it. However, if I don't choose equipment that my small frame and weaker muscles can manage, I end up spending more money on the Chiropractor! Work safe and within your limits!



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K Eilander
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This won't get rid of a lot, but if you know any artists, vine charcoal is highly regarded for drawing.

Some instructions on how to make it:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/drawing-charcoal/

Be the shenanigans
you want to see in the world.

 
Laurel Jones
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Traditionally paellas are made during grape vine pruning events, the paella is cooked over a fire of grape vines.  Develop a taste for paella and you may go searching for grape vines to cut down!

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