Hi Holmac and welcome to GoY. I wouldn't suggest you ever water your grape vine unless it is in a container, even then not at this time of year.

This was a sensible question. We don't know whether the plant is indoors or under glass. This kind of reply could well put somebody off coming back to ask somethng another time.

Not very friendly , Wildlife .
Welcome , Holmac .
May your vine prosper .

Wildlifebalcony I agree with Stera this was a reasonable question and I was happy to answer, most folk don't give the full picture which is why we have to ask them questions back.

yes welcome Holmac. well wildlifebalcony if you are going to be specific please check your spellings first before being unfriendly to a guest.

Holmac, after you have picked the grapes, you need to start to slowly reduce the amount of water until the vine is fully dormant. Dormancy normally starts around the end of autumn. When the vine is fully dormant, it needs very little water. You shouldn't water the grape vines during this period as it won't take any water through the wood.

Grape vines also need some degree of cold during to aid dormancy. So even if yours is a type that is normally grown in temperate regions and you are growing it in a greenhouse, it needs to be unheated to effect the dormancy.

Hope this helps, good luck.

A grape vine loses it leaves in winter WLB... and Myron that's a great answer!

Not a safe check anyway WLB as drooping leaves can also result for overwatering . Many a cyclamen has met its death for this reason. (not that that has anything to do with the question...) Stopping to think is not enough if you don't understand a particular plant's requirements.

WLB Myron has given Holmac very clear and good advice and pointed out that regardless of where the vine is it does not need any water at this time of year. I 'should' have remembered this after all my years studying wine and the growing of grapes for same.

I have no interest in proving you wrong or right. Good advice to the questioner is the important thing here.
The question is not how do you tell if it needs water, which we all know, but at this time of year should it be having any regardless of how dry the soil is. Lets not go on with this please.

My vine had roots outside and growth in the greenhouse. by this time of year it had dropped all its leaves and gone dormant, so it never got deliberately watered from Nov - March. The greenhouse is unheated too.

On Christmas day [ avoid the squabbles and a bit of me time ]I would trundle out to it and prune it back to keep it in bounds of the space I had for it. It used to break bud March /April depending on the temperature. By late May /June it also got watered in the greenhouse as well as what ever the weather threw at it.

This year my OH removed it as I was the only one eating grapes and he wanted to use the space for more toms/peppers.

What a shame SBG I miss our grape vine.

Sorry about this wlb but if you look on you profile you will see your spelling mistakes. don't worry nobody is perfect not even me.

I haven't missed mine yet. My friend has as they used to get grapes from us to make wine. I don't really drink so there wasn't much point in making it.

WLB rude to the last I see - you have made spelling mistakes on your 'about me'
http://www.growsonyou.com/wildlifebalcony/profile

When did you last see your good manners WLB?

I am not surprised the questioner has not come back to us.
I like your red kite by the way.

Holmac my apologies it is rare that one member of GoY attacks others in this way.

checked all the mistakes on my profile, now are we all happy?

The roots of my grape vine are planted INSIDE the greenhouse. I never water it and it seems to do well. I suppose it gets enough water from the ground around the greenhouse.

I don't think that grape vines need much water at all. If you think about what the ideal conditions for growing them is... A hot climate on a south facing chalky slope that will drain most of the water away, they survive ok.

Agree Myron having visited various vineyards in German and France they do best on south facing chalky slopes that have so little soil a pick axe is used to plant new vines. The vintners view is that the vine puts down a long tap root to hunt for any water it needs. Hot sun is more important than lots of water.

thinking about it the vine was planted inside the greenhouse in the corner but we knew the roots would soon make their way down and out. which they did. I miss the leaves as I used to use them for 'dolmas?' rice etc rolled in the leaves. yum

MG, I once watched a TV program about growing grapes in California. The ground that the vines were planted in were very stoney. Apparently the sunlight heats the stones during the day and this retained heat is then released from the stones during night time to help keep the soil warm.

I thought, this is a good idea and tried to emulate it by spreading stones around my vine, but my cats also thought it was a good idea and kept pissing on them.

Lol Myron