! ATTENTION! Toute commande de plants passée à partir du 2 juillet 2024 sera traitée comme une pré-commandes pour le printemps 2025

EN

F.A.Q.

 

1. How to plant a grape vine?

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

 

  1. Dig a small hole +/- 20 cms deep. Carefully place the grapevine in the hole. Make sure to plant the plants with the biodegradable pot to prevent any damage to the very fragile roots. DO NOT TRY TO REMOVE THE POT!
  2. When planting, add 2 cups of water including a soluble fertilizer type 10-52-10 or organic compost (sheep, cow, mycorrhiza, shrimp). ajouter 2 tasses d’eau incluant un engrais soluble de type 10-52-10 ou compost organique (mouton, vache, mycorhize, crevettes). Avoid cedar mulch at the base of the plant!
  3. During the next few weeks water them generously, but don’t drown them!
  4. Optional: To obtain vigorous plants, you can water each week with 2 cups of water including a 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer. Caution: Never fertilize after July 20th.

PLEASE click on the link below and watch the video at 17’20 to see how to practically plant:

http://tvcw.tv/index.php/main/emissions/1060

 

 

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2. WHY SHOULD YOU AVOID CEDAR MULCH AT THE BASE OF THE PLANT?

Vine should grow in a neutral pH soil. The pH for the soil should be between 6 and 7. Cedar mulch has the reputation to acidify the soil. therefore it is not recommended to use it around vines.

 

3. THE HARDENING OFF PROCESS:

The «hardening off» process is a self protecting natural phenomenon that allows the vine to survive during winter without any protection.

In the growing season grapevines like other perennial woody plants begin to prepare for dormancy and cold acclimate.

One of the first visual signs of acclimation is shoot maturation and the formation of periderm or browning of shoots. This is commonly known as ‘hardening off’. This process occurs from base to tip of the shoot so tissue at the lower portion of the shoot is acclimating faster than those on the apical end.

This concerns us to the highest degree because:

If the tree is fertilized in July and August, the tree continues to grow, stimulated by the fertilizer, and therefore, the new shoots will not have the time to turn into hard wood before winter. The whole plant “boosted” is at risk to miss the «hardening off» process and will not be ready in time to resist the roughness of winter. The chances of death are then very high, even almost certain!

So in order not to propel your plants towards certain death, it is IMPERATIVE to stop fertilizing by July 20 and then let nature do its work!

 

4. WHAT IS A “1-YEAR-OLD” VINE”? “2-YEAR-OLD”? “3-YEAR OLD”?…

One-year-old plants are plants that have just grown from cutting by the end of the spring of the current year. We talk about “one-year-old” plants until spring of the following year. (Note: Vignes Chez Soi only sells one-year-old plants!)

In the spring of the following year, we then talk about two-years-old plants EVEN IF it is only a year that you planted the plants!

We are talking about one-year-old plants throughout the year following cuttings and until the spring of the following year.

 

 

5. HOW MANY TIMES A WEEK SHOULD I WATER MY 1-YEAR-OLD PLANTS?

Do not over-water the plants so as not to “asphyxiate” the roots, which would result, as for humans, in the death of the plants. Normally, two or three times a week are sufficient. If it rains, reduce the watering frequency according to the rain. In case of drought, three or four times a week will do the trick.

 

6. WHAT TYPE OF FERTILIZER CAN I USE?

You can use a soluble fertilizer type 10-52-10 added to 2 cups of water or organic compost (sheep, cow, mycorrhiza, shrimp) when planting.

Subsequently, to obtain vigorous plants, you can water each week with 2 cups of water including a 20-20-20 soluble fertilizer. However, this is optional.

Caution! Never fertilize after July 20! (See F.A.Q #3 above)

 

 

7. WHAT IS COLD HARDINESS?

Hardiness of plants describes their ability to survive adverse growing conditions.

Winter-hardy plants grow during the winter or at least remain healthy and dormant.

For example: tropical plants are not very hardy, but plants that grow in the northern regions of Canada are very hardy.

Many domestic plants are assigned a hardiness zone that specifies the climates in which they can survive.

When choosing a grape variety, you must take into account the hardiness of the vine, as well as the hardiness zone of the area where you plan to plant the plants, so that they can resist winter in that area.

To help people to choose better, botanists have created a hardiness zone map. Depending on where you live, you are located in a certain “zone”  which determines which plants you can plant and which plants will resist the cold in your area.

The hardiness scale has 13 zones from 13 to 0, decreasing from 13 (hottest) to 0 (coldest).

Plants that grow in Zone 0 are the most hardy and can grow in the Far North. A Zone 9 plant is not hardy and can not withstand extreme cold and frost. However, a hardy zone 0 perennial can grow in a higher zone, but the reverse does not work. Therefore a zone 6 cold hardy shrub will not survive in an area that is in zone 5 or less.

Therefore, at the very beginning, you must determine your hardiness zone, and thus know which grape varieties are hardy enough to grow in your garden.

Then you must check, in the table of characteristics of each grape that we sell, what is the hardiness zone for each grape variety.

 

8. WHAT PLANTING ZONE DO I LIVE IN?

You just have to consult a map of the hardiness zones of the region or country you live in.

Here is the Government of Canada’s official link to Canada’s hardiness zones:

http://www.agr.gc.ca/atlas/pvga?webmap-en=78529700717d4cab81c13e9f9404ef10&webmap-fr=c1b454842d3748b0bb0807d7817d34c2

 

9. SHOULD I PROTECT MY VINES DURING WINTER?

No if you respected the plant hardiness zone.

Yes if you have not respected the hardiness zone of the plants and / or if the hardiness zone has been respected but the plants have been planted in pots! In such a case, you must protect the roots of the plants from intense cold. To do this, you can cover the pot(s) with geotextile and /or ensure that throughout winter the pot is surrounded by snow. The snow will stabilize the temperature inside the pot and prevent it from going down too low and thus reach the roots and kill the plants.

 

10. HOW DO I KNOW THE QUALITY OF MY SOIL?

In Quebec, you simply need to bring a sample of your soil to a garden center offering the soil analysis service. Look for a garden center offering this service near your location.

 

11. WHEN CAN I CONSIDER THAT A PLANT IS DEAD WHEN IT’S NOT SHOWING ANY SIGN OF LIFE AFTER THE FIRST WINTER POST-PLANTATION?

The official date after which you can contact us for warranty is June 15 of the year following planting.

Please note that we have already seen plants “rebirth” as late as June 24th!

 

12. I PLANTED MY PLANTS LAST SPRING AND THEY DON’T GROW VERY FAST? IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH MY PLANTS?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! DO NOT WORRY! The only thing that matters during the first year is is that the plantS root perfectly in your soil and develops its root system in order to be firmly anchored in the soil so that it can later support the weight of the grapes.

 

13. IS IT REALLY NECESSARY TO PRUNE THE GRAPE VINES?

Yes! If you want to collect more than one cluster of grapes.

The vine will only produce fruit on the new branches of the year. If you let the vine make five meters of branches every year, after 3 years your vine will have to feed 15 meters of branches to reach the branch’s extremity where the fruit are! The vine will have little energy left when it comes to the end of the branch, hence the fruit yield will be low. Pruning your vine is essential, as it limits the amount of branches not producing fruit.

 

14. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO RESPECT THE DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES OF PRUNING ACCORDING TO THE AGE OF THE VINE?

The very first step for the vine is that the root system develops optimally in the soil. This occurs during the first year after you planted the vine.

The second step is to make the trunk strong enough to later support the weight of branches, leaves and grape bunches. This happens during year 2 of the vine. That’s the reason why in spring of year 2, we’re going to cut the vine drastically. Almost 90{376a453f038517d3baf5ac44562e9fffae28af152394937840c3ccede6b142df} of the vine will be gone! Don’t be scared! We want to concentrate the energy of the vine in its trunk to make it stronger and stronger. So we do not want the energy of the vine to be lost in multiple branches.

The third step is to understand that the vine has a certain maximum yield that can never be exceeded! Some pruning rules must be followed each year after year 3 to achieve this maximum performance.

For the different pruning techniques please refer to the following links: (only in French)

http://tvcw.tv/index.php/main/emissions/1060

The video is divided into two parts: a first general part about the vine (from 1:20 to 11:05), then further a specific part on the size (from 17:05 to 24:25).

 

WARRANTY POLICY

 

 

At Vignes chez soi, we offer a one-time-over-a-one-year-period warranty on all plants coming out of our greenhouses, in case of premature death of the plants or non-survival of the plants during the first winter. All you have to do is send us a photo of the dead plant.

 

None of the cultivars labeled «non hardy variety in Quebec» such as (Himrod, Canadice, Interlaken Skookum etc…) are covered by our guarantee. Please see and read carefully the description of the cultivar you want to purchase prior to buying them.

 

We will wait until June 15th of the year following the year of plantation before officially declaring that a plant is dead.

Please note that in some cases, the plants can get back to life very lately! We saw plants come back to life as late as June 24th!

Also you must meet the following conditions:

It is the customer’s responsibility to make sure that the plants he/she purchases is hardy to the hardiness zone of the region where the plants will be planted. 

You will find in the description and characteristics of each of our grape varieties the information about hardiness.

Vignes Chez Soi will not be held responsible for a bad choice of grape variety that is not corresponding to the zone of hardiness of the region in which the plants have been or will be implanted, and therefore of the possible death of these plants during winter.

Please refer to the tables specifying the characteristics of each grape variety in the “Shop” section of our website.

Planting instructions must have been fully followed.(You will find them on the back of each label attached to your plants, as well as in the FAQ section of our website)

– You did not use cedar mulch around the plants. (See FAQ)

You followed our instructions to stop fertilization after July 21st.

From the manufacture of the plants to their delivery to you by Canada Post, we give them the utmost care so that they are the healthiest and most vigorous possible.

The plants coming out of our greenhouses are one-year-old plants.

They have been selected, sorted and pampered and then acclimatized to ensure that they are in perfect health, vigorous and ready to be planted upon receipt.

In case of postal delivery, we assume any damage or death occurred during transport when the plants are leaving our greenhouses.

From the moment you receive the plants, it is your responsibility to take care of the plants until they are planted.

The plants are self-pollinating (only one plant is enough to produce grapes) and cold hardy.

If, for any reason, the contents of the delivery boxes do not meet your expectations, please contact us as soon as you receive the plants and we will be pleased to evaluate the situation together and find a solution.

We will honor the guarantee upon reception of a photo of the dead plant(s) as well as the location (soil, location …) where the plant(s) were planted.

If despite the fact that all of the above conditions have been met, but still your plants do not survive after the plantation or after the winter after the plantation, we will replace the dead plants at our expanse. The customer will assume the delivery costs.

 

Order cancellation and refund:

 

No plants or order will be refunded once the plants or order have been sent.

The only exception being if a plant arrives dead after shipping. In such a case, please immediately take  pictures of the dead plant and send it right away to us: info@wordpress-301761-3261723.cloudwaysapps.com.

We will evaluate the situation and get back to you as soon as we can.

 

If a refund request is made more than 30 days after the date on which the order was placed, a 20% refund-and-management-fee of the total amount of the order will be deducted from the total amount to be refunded.