Moving mature grapevines

We were just given a grape vineyard. Yes a whole vineyard. 550 Bois Deblanc grapevines that are 5 years old, post, wire and everything else to go with it. The catch is they have to be moved from where they are now to our land. We live in East Texas. I know this is the wrong time of year to be moving them. However if we want the vineyard we have to move it now. ANY suggestion to keep me from killing them when we move them would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I know practically nothing about grapes BUT if they are like every other plant. #1 thing when moving established plants/shrubs/trees etc. is making sure the roots are intact, so digging a big enough root ball is key

Hopefully someone with more knowledge of grapes will chime in

Ditto: I would use a backhoe to be sure of grabbing enough root mass and the soil that goes with it. 5 year old grapes can have a pretty big root mass already.
If they are leafed out, use a closed truck to move them. The wind would dehydrate the leaves and could kill the plants.

Have the new area prepared, holes dug.

If you have time, here is how I would do this:
Day 1:
Remove the wires and posts.
Root prune along one side of all the vines.

Set up the post and wire system, irrigation and whatever else needs to be done at the new location.

Day 2: (several weeks to a month after day1)
Root prune the other side of all the rows. Prune the grapes if there are long, tender branches. Yes, wrong season. But I think they will be easier to handle if they are not long, floppy and delicate new growth. Better pruned where you want than broken off in handling and shipping.

Day 3 (several weeks to a month later)
Move the vines.

If you have to do this transplanting of the Vine within a few days or even a week, then prepare the new planting site first, add as much well rotted manure or humus as possible, remember to make the hole 2-3 times larger than it has at the moment, ant water the hole before you place the vine in it.
Dig with spade a good 2 feet or more away from the main stem all the way round the vine trunk, pour water all around the cut into the soil you have dug and wait about an hour for roots to take up some water, this will make the vine / soil very heavy so have help at hand, this is not a one man / woman job.

Make sure you have gone deep enough with the spade and try also to lift with spade under the root area as you work, second person could help tilt the vine so you can get spade under the roots area, as you dig as Diana said, you will be cutting the roots that have spread out over the years.

Try remove as large a rootball of soil as you can, have an old blanket groundsheet or other large expanse of material to lay the rootball onto when you get it out the ground, wrap the root-ball in the material to protect the roots from drying out. a large board laid onto a barrow might help take the weight to your truck or other transport, as Diana has also said, the upper part of the vine needs protection from wind and do not travel with the foliage uncovered or you will strip the vine of what foliage /buds, possible tiny flowers buds, so uncovered, the vine will die within a few weeks of moving.

All this might sound a very big job for one plant but believe me, it's the wrong time to move a vine or tree of any kind especially in your climate, so do it right and you have a fighting chance it will recover, do it wrong and you would be better not going to all the trouble and leave the vine alone.

When you place the vine in it's new planting position, take an empty plastic container, cut the bottom off, sink this into the planting hole about a foot away from the vines stem, narrow end down (remove the stopper) as you backfill the soil into the hole, leave about 3-4 inches of container above soil level and when watering the plant, fill the container up a couple of times to allow water to go down to the roots, this is also a good way to add liquid feed also, I would leave this container in situ for a couple of years untill your happy the vine is doing well, leave for ever IF you wish.

Remember the vine will go into shock after being transplanted, but with a bit of shade from the hottest of the day and constantly checking to see if the roots need watering in the first few weeks, it may even drop all it's leaves and flower buds, but with care it should recover, just dont go feeding it for a good few months, this will confuse the plant, it has had it's roots cut and has been transplanted so it needs time to recover, feeding would make it work hard to grow new shoots instead of sending out new roots.
Don't expect a crop of Grapes this year, if you get them good and well but recovery is better than grapes for now.

Best of luck. WeeNel.