This spring I noticed that about a foot or so of my 3 grapevines had been almost completely girdled about 18 inches above the ground. During the late winter I had noticed a couple of raccoons hiding down there under my porch where the vines are planted.
I sprayed the damaged area with black tree-tar, and initially I thought I had lost my vines.
But they seem to be sprouting now. And a couple of small branches overhead that I erroneously pruned too late started to drip sap.
So far, the vines seem OK.
Should I have even bothered to spray them with tar?
Is the bark THAT important on a grapevine, as it is with trees? Or do the nutrients get carried up through the center? The couple of small vine branches that I cut were hollow.