Vitis vinifera -Common Grapevine, Cipro Nero (Mavro)

Hi Everybody,

Mavro (Greek: μαύρο, meaning "black") is an indigenous red grape cultivated on the island of Cyprus.
Cyprus belongs to the old world of wine producing countries and the grapevine below collected from one very old vineyard. The owner estimated the grapevine age to be 150-200 years!! I am not sure if he is right but if you consider that the owner is 90 years old and the vineyard was propably planted by his grandfather or grand grandfather(he wasnt sure) then is a very old specimen for sure.
The very obvious reverse tapering and bark colour/pattern are also signs of a very old grapevine.

Below ar some photos from collection to today.

I would be glad to hear your opinions, suggestions and advices about this tree

As collected


last summer


Today

That is pretty cool... I have never seen deadwood on grape. Although leaf-size maybe an issue, overall it has great potential.

Very nice! I have a few questions: When was the grape collected? I did not realize that the trunks clean up so nicely. When you remove the old bark will it still bud from trunk? Lastly do you have any idea about whether one can reduce the size of the leaves and if so how? Hank

Amman ,
Thanks for your reply. Yes you are right is rare to see dead wood on a grape. This grape is very old that's why you can see plenty of dead wood

Hank,
The grape was collected 1.5 year ago.
Dont forget that this is a very old speciment so old loose bark from the stem removed using almost just my fingers. Usually pests are hiding there so its a must to remove old bark.
I think its too difficult to bud from the old trunk.
The size of the leaves can be reduced by leaf pruning, either throughout the season by removing the larger leaves or by total defoliation. We are lucky in Cyprus that we have a long growing season and plants will tolerate defoliation twice in a season provided they are strong and fertilised well beforehand. Apart from reducing leaf size defoliation promotes branch ramification, it's like having 2 or 3 growing seasons in one

Nice fix on a reverse taper.

Beautiful deadwood and live veins, it cleaned up really nice.

Many thanks!

Nice try Greg,an unusual species for bonsai,but a very popular species in our island so its worth a try.So far so good,lets see its progress...

Many thanks Savvas.

below are some virtual. I tried with tree inclination to give a better balance.
I would like to hear your comments.

I'm favor the second photo, but I would like to see more branching before making a decision. I love the virtual pot with the texture.
Todd

hi
if you wants your vitis survive, you have to be drastic each year, like in wine culture
if you don't, it will die

Vivian,
Interesting!
Do you have any events regarding your conclusion about hard pruning?

vivian wrote:hi
if you wants your vitis survive, you have to be drastic each year, like in wine culture
if you don't, it will die

Vintners hard prune to encourage flowering and balance crop vigor I have never heard a vintner mention that left unpruned the vine will die. I have wild fox grapes on my property that have been growing there since the 70's having never been pruned and yet they are still alive.

Could you perhaps provide a reference for your statement above? I would be very curious to read it.

thank you
-Jay

I was just about to post the same thing, Jay. We have concord grapes that have been in the ground for decades, each year I just prune off the wild out of control extensions and they grow strongly and produce tons of fruit. Also have 3 seedless cultivars (can't remember the names) that I planted 7 or 8 years ago, they get the same treatment. I'm actually thinking about "harvesting" one of them for bonsai use, as the fruits would be nicely in scale...

vivian wrote:hi
if you wants your vitis survive, you have to be drastic each year, like in wine culture
if you don't, it will die

Is it an urban legend or just a joke?

hi
i don't understand english very well sorry
my sister produicing wine in south of france and i help her
wine is a climber plant and it survives if it have something to "climb"
we saw it at a place where plants have been let grow since 3-4years.
the only survivors are there wish have climb at trees or other thing
however, like wisteria and other climber species, it still strong when you are drastic
if you don't it maybe not die but will not be strong.
and when it's not strong some branches die...

this one is not strong

for example, we keep only six branches cutted to one bud