My daughter loves grapes. My parents have a few grape Vines that will produce grapes every couple of years or so.

I bought a few concord vines and was seeking information on how to get them to produce every year. At my parents house, they don't prune the vines or anything. Am I correct in saying that you need to prune the vines every winter to get them to produce the next year, year after year?

For my concord vines, I have two posts with a hog panel hung up between them for the vines to grow up on, I just planted the vines today. They are just the standard size that you would go and buy at any garden center. Is there anything that I need to do to them this year?

Seeking advice on what to do with newly planted grape vines, and the care required going forward to get them to consistently produce grapes every year. Thanks guys.

Side note- I also planted a few blackberry sprouts. Do those require yearly pruning or anything aswell?

Grape pruning can be somewhat complicated to explain as is training them to the trellis as its a multi year process.

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/crop-production/berries/grape-pruning-basics

But once you got them up on the wire it's not that difficult to prune.

Blackberry is going to depend on whether you grow the trailing Dewberry types or the upright types. But both have one year old canes and two year old canes. Fruit is borne on two year old and then the can is done. So each year you're protecting the first year cane as its next years crop and removing the two year old canes after the crop is done. The first year cane will be headed back midsummer to encourage branching that will bear more flowers.

I dont really know what my blackberries are- as far as upright or tailing dewberry. The variety I planted is called "Ebony King" I think

Ebony King is an upright.

Upright are best grown with two catch wires each side of the row about 3 feet up and three feet apart to provide support.

First year canes will be green with soft tips. Second year will turn reddish brown. First year let the green ones grow. Midsummer post harvest tip them to encourage branching and if crowded thin. Second year new canes will emerge. The second year canes can be cut at ground level any time after harvest.

The difference for trailing types is they will need to be tied or woven onto a trellis of horizontal wires. First year are usually allowed to run along the ground until the second year canes are removed then the first lifted to replace them.

I live in the Concord grapebelt of WNY. Id get rid of the Hog panel. Posts buried to 5 1/2 to 6 feet tall. One wire on top and one wire half way up. When plants are young use baling twine to tie up. Plants do need to be trimmed every fall/winter after the leaves have fallen. Spray roundup underneath the trellis and fertilize. If your just talking a few vines we won't get into sprays ( pre and post bloom). You should occasionally spray with an insecticide like Sevin dust. And with fungicide. Powdery mildew and blackrot are common in concord vines here

To get good grapes every year they need to be pruned every year.

Funny story here for you:

I had a neighbor with an old trellised 5 grape vines. Hadn't been pruned since the dark ages. They got a few grapes that were sub-par, some years more some years less. I tried for years to talk them into letting me prune them back. Finally I prevailed and took them down to the original horizontal coridon. No material that had any chance to produce fruit in the coming year. So the first year after my pruning there was rampant new growth but no grapes. I asked to come over and prune them in year two and they declined. So year two with all the rampant growth had a bumper crop of grapes.

Their conclusion was that not pruning makes for better/more grapes. I was never allowed to prune them again. LOL