grapes for beginners

The grapes I knew as a kid were all growing in desert land, with no irrigation. So, those varieties, at least, do not need regular watering.

Where are you Rockhead? East or West? That will affect your grape growing techniques.

south central a few miles off the river.

verra sandy soil.

Okay then you can go with Concord or European varieties (vinafera). If you plant Concord you need to tie/train the vines high so that the vine and grapes can droop down--they don't climb. If the European varieties, start them low because they will climb. Space them far enough apart that the vines won't tangle and make them difficult to manage--the nursery where you buy them can advise you on that.

If you have sandy soil, that's fine but did down pretty deep to loosen it up and you'll need to add a lot of organic potting soil, compost, well rotted manure (fresh will burn the roots) or otherwise a lot of organic material. Wild grapes grow well in forests etc. where there is lots of organic stuff in the soil--domestic grapes are no different.

The grape vines will need a lot of sun but the roots need to be cool. You can accomplish that by heavily mulching each vine with bark or similar material after planting or a lot of people who have access to rocks pile rocks around the vine that helps keep the soil underneath cooler. Until well established keep moist but don't over water--grapes are pretty drought resistant. Stick your finger into the ground. If it's moist an inch or two down, it's okay. If dry, water. Once established once a week or so is plenty to water. Grapes do sink very deep roots.

Don't plan to really start harvesting until the third year. After this year's growth read up on pruning and how to tell when the fruit is ripe and at peak for harvesting.

Oh, and my grape growing experience was obtained in Pittsburg KS

Really too much rainfall for really good grapes in Pittsburg, but if you're further west it's all good. We had a couple of vines in Salina and they did well there.

much drier than P-burg.

I am a bit nw of wichita.

I have a small volunteer elm shading the roots, but allowing sun on the full arbor for most of the day.

I spent the afternoon mixing soil.

we will see how it progresses.

I have one more to plant, but have to decide where...

The Dyster has Concord grapes growing in his backyard garden. Saw them a few days ago and they are loaded with newborn grapes.

The house I grew up in back in the East Bay of California had many many Concord grapevines growing wild on the hillside that separated our backyard from the yard of the neighbor behind us further up the hill.

They had good, native soil and didn't get any special care or watering. We kids looked forward to picking the ripe grapes every summer and suffered many a belly ache from impatiently eating the unripe ones.


Check out this info from Texas A&M about growing grapes in Texas

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/vineyard/vineyard.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homefruit/grapearbors/grape.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/muscadine/muscadine.html


These two sites are about growing grapes from seed and the planting of the seedlings. For a higher success rate, seedlings should be nearly a year old before they are transplanted into the ground. An alternative is to sow the seeds directly into the ground and tend to them there while they grow.

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1305/

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/treefrt/homegdn/grapes.htm

Here is an alternative for starting grape plants if you know someone who has already established grape plants and is willing to give you some cuttings:

http://www.gardenersnet.com/fruit/grapes.htm

my concord grapes are planted in nothing by albuquerque sand, no amendments, i water them faithfully twice a year, i get more grapes than I can eat. I build an arbor with heavy wire to support the vines.

I was gonna say, You don't got the grapes, but apparently you do.

I had grape vines once. I recall they did pretty good and all I ever did was prune them severely in the late Fall. I dug em out because grapes were better from the Green Grocer. (We grew Concord and some kind of pinkish kind [Niagara?]). The homegrowns had a "foxy" taste and really tough sour skins. AND, they drew wasps and hornets until the first nblasts of winter. So, because kids wre always running around in bare feet until frost, they were always getting stung becauase theyw ere too stupid to keep from walking on grape skins, we burned em out. And they still kept sending up volunteer plants for years after.

Grapes are almost an invasive around South Eastern Pa.

Thats all I know and Im not gonna significantly change it for the record

The real experts know the exact color that is 'ripe' for the grapes. Too many folks think when they start showing color they are ready, but usually they aren't and you don't get maximum flavor if you get them too early or let them stay on the vine too long. For me it was always guesswork and I was never sure that I had it right.

I'm a bit inclined to think the same as farmerman. fruit that doesnt get pcked will eventually fall to the ground and be sticky and messy especially if its in an area that gets foot traffick.
No different to autumn leaves or other fruit trees I guess. A little bit of work at certain times of the year.

I have lots of feathered friendlies here as well. some other locals with grapes have warned that I may not be the only harvester...

I ended up putting one vine on each side of the arbor, in special loose soil. I will put clematis on either side of them to give it some early color.

as the grapes of wrath dangle in the wind

pyrostegia doth display

my grape arbor this morning (5/24/o9) two plants, arbor is about 8ft tall.

Hey, you all can make dolmades with your grape leaves. You plan on making wine with those grapes? Yum - domaldes and wine, homemade. I'm available for a taste test.

Vitis labrusca 'Caco'

2 red seedless for the arbor...

also have a single catawba to play with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_(grape)

not sure where to put it yet.