Grape Vines

[Crazy Uncle]

On the Crazy Uncle ranch, I have an edible landscape. Fruit trees and nut trees line the drive to the house and provide shade in the courtyard. The dogs love it, because the nut trees attract squirrels and they love chasing squirrels. I love it, because the Persimmon trees attract deer and elk.

It warmed up yesterday and I was able to finally get my fall pruning done. While I was pruning the grape vines and taking a few cuttings, It got me to thinking. There are a zillion varieties of grapes and I like the addition they bring to the edible landscape. If you choose the right variety for your location, they require minimal care and provide leaves to use in cooking in the spring summer and fall. They provide grapes in the fall and shade in the summer. I built a trellis with plenty of places for the vines to grow through and I re-used old galvanized pipe to support the vines. Yearly pruning, keeps the grapes under control and prevents them from damaging the trellis. When they go dormant in the winter, the sunlight shines through the trellis so we can have a sunny space to enjoy.

The big challenge is finding a grape that does what you want, and will survive in your climate. I grow Valiant and Agria grapes because they are very cold tollerent and at 3800 feet in altitude, we get a little snow and cold in the winter, which they don't seem to mind. They are both blue grapes and the Valiant makes very nice jelly in addition to being a good table grape, while the Agria is a wine grape and suited for juicing and making wine, which is real popular in Austria.

There are table grapes for eating and cooking. A lot of these are seedless. They have a softer or thinner skin that is not astringent (containing a lot of tannin). Wine grapes have seeds and a harder astringent skin. They can be eaten, but be prepared to spit seeds. Then there are jelly grapes or juicing grapes, like the Concorde variety. Then there are colors. Colors of grapes range from white(green) grapes all the way to an almost black grape and everything in between.

Grapes are supposed to be self pollinating, but I found since I added the second variety, both types produce far more grapes now than they did separately. So by the end of summer, I am tired of eating so many grapes and start making jelly.

Something to think about. Have fun!

[flock6]

Now Cammie sure brings in a haul of grapes! They say to prune your grape vines back until your wife cries then cut a little more....
I hope to have a mixture of about a dozen grape and muscadine vines planted by spring.

[bacpacker1513]

I have red and golden muscadines that came from cuttings originally from my grandpas farm. Also have concords. I have a couple other types but they have never done very much here.
I usually prune in Dec or Jan depending on the weather.

[flock6]

Ison's where I plan to get my muscadines from says that pruning in Feb early March is safest on the muscadines. Muscadines have shallow roots less than a foot vs grapes deep deep roots 20ft.

[Crazy Uncle]

I prune grapes, right after the leaves start falling. On my vines, the leaves turn a bright red (Agria) and a bright gold(Valiant). You want to do it, when the temp is above 60, to minimize disease organisms from getting into the cuts. It's also a good time to take cuttings. Cut em down to a foot or so, so they have a couple nodes on them. Wrap them up in burlap, and bury them under a foot of sand and mulch. In spring, they should be ready to put out leaves. Dig em up and plant them in the ground. Just make sure the right end is sticking out of the ground.

[bacpacker1513]

Ill try an early pruning on some of mine this year see how those do compared to others. I've always winter pruned here.