Perhaps a cunning idea for Grape Vine positioning ?

As you can see I live in the very north of Italy and as we are 430 Mts above sea level and as it gets quite cold here the only grapes that are grown successfully here are virtually inedible !! 25 Kms south of us is another story ... SO ..... I was wondering if part of the problem is the cold soil and if so whether planting just the roots of the vine in my greenhouse but allowing the rest of it to grow outside whether this would allow me to have a better selection of type of grape (edible that is)

I seem to remember that the problem with cold and inclement weather with grape vines is the "root" problem to coin a phrase !
Any thoughts ?
Cheers

 

I don't know about the soil, but we did a tour of Denbies Vineyard in Dorking, Surrey last year and they were telling us that in early Spring, when the buds are forming but still tender to frost, they light gas burners around the vines if the temperature is likely to fall below freezing (this is April we're talking).

Maybe it's not the ground temperature but the air temperature? If I'm talking out of my proverbial, do tell me though!

 

I dare not comment on your area Nick, but its usually done the other way round here, root outside and top growth inside.
But then in a "normal" winter we dont get the frozen soil problem that you appear to have, ours is more to do with short summers and late ripening.

 

Aaron & Pete,
Thanks - Interesting thoughts - Pete you may have a point - Let's see if we have an Northern Italian member who could shed some light on this - As I fear the locals here havn't tried anything new for a few centuries