Grapes Get Epic Amounts Of Fruit From Vine

Whether you want to make plonk, raisins, eat fresh grapes or drink grape juice, you start by growing grapes.

Of course, you can buy table grapes on the market, but if you have enough space, why not just have plants that can provide sweet fruits for decades? Many grape varieties produce vines with an average lifespan of 50 to 100 years.

With that in mind, let’s discuss the right way to start planting these long-lived fruit growers. We will talk about some specific varieties and discuss the optimal growing conditions.

There are hundreds of varieties of edible grapes in the world. In fact, there is a fantastic list of UC Davis grapes, which currently has 594 varieties with 2345 different individual cultivars — and these are just the most cultivated edible varieties!

In general, there are 79 varieties of grapes in the Vitis family, and not all of them provide edible fruits for humans.

But there is no way to cover all the varieties in one article, so let’s explain a few different categories that grapes fall into.

There are three basic grape varieties: American, European and hybrid.

American Grapes

American grapes are native to the United States. There are a number of different varieties of American grapes that vary depending on their preferred environment, some are much colder than others.

One of the most famous American grapes is Concord, a cultivar of Vitis labrusca (Fox grape). There are also many other cultivars or hybrids of Vitis labrusca available.

Other types of American grapes are Vitis riparia (shore grape or frost grape), Vitis aestivalis (summer grape or pigeon grape), Vitis californica (California wild grape) and Vitis rotundifolia (muscadine grape).

European Grapes

Hybrid Grapes

Hybrid grapes usually mix European and American grapes to produce cultivars with certain qualities, such as a European plonk grape that can tolerate warmer climates or tolerates drought. These have also been developed with resistance to certain ailments or pests.

In addition to hybrids, it has become very common to use a rootstock of one variety with grafted vines of another variety. This is especially useful if the roots of a species are damaged by specific pests. Another rootstock will be selected to protect the vines.

Although the use of different rootstocks of the fruit grape does not make it a hybrid, it requires specialized skills that are often found among hybrid grape growers or in the nursery industry. These can even be adapted to the specific combination of carrot and favorite vine.

Recommended Grape Varieties

Although all grapes can be broken down into points of origin, they are often separated not by location, but by use.

When growing grapes, it is a good idea to select your variety according to the use you want to make of it. Different varieties have different uses, and although some may be good candidates for crossing, not all of them are!

Table Grapes

Examples: Autumn Seedless, Black Monukka, Catawba, Flame Seedless, Golden Muscat, Niagra, Perlette, Redglobe, Seedless Ruby, Tokay

These are sweet and juicy grapes that we all love to eat! The table grapes are ready to consume directly from the vine. Sweeter than many varieties of plonk grapes, they are snacks or salad toppings, which provide a significant boost in potassium that many other fruits cannot provide.

Raisins Raisins

What about storage grapes? Well, raisins become raisins, and this popular culinary ingredient is used in everything from meals to desserts, or eaten on its own. A number of varieties are particularly good for this purpose because they dry extremely well on the vine.

The selection of a raisin requires choosing a variety with a very high concentration of fruit sugars, as this will preserve the future grape for months to a year after drying.

If you are looking for something that can be stored in the form of juice or canned, there are also cultivars for this. Although there are many varieties that lend themselves to these purposes (even plonk grapes can make a delicious jelly with a touch of vinous flavor), they are remarkable choices.

Versatile Grapes

The Cultivation of Grapes

Let’s discuss some of the first stages of growing grapes. This process requires a lot of preparation in advance, so you can start planning and preparing in the fall for spring planting!

Grape planning is a long-term process, but the actual time to plant existing bare or potted grapes would be in early spring.

You want to choose a day as soon as possible after the peril of frost has ended. Ideally, your site is already prepared in advance so that you can easily put the grapes in the ground and let them go.

If you want to start from seeds, this process will begin much earlier. You need to stratify your seeds to allow them to germinate. To do this, place the seeds for planting in a bed of moist sphagnum moss, damp paper towels or wet sand and place them in the refrigerator for 3 months.

After withstanding 3 months of temperatures from 35 to 40 degrees, you can plant your seeds in small pots. Maintain a soil temperature of 70 degrees to induce germination and keep the soil slightly moistened.

Germination can take anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks, and once your plants are 3 inches tall, transplant them into at least a 4-inch pot. Keep them in greenhouse conditions until they are a foot long, then harden them for outdoor grafting.

All in all, you should stratify your grape seeds in autumn, plant them in winter and let them harden as early as possible in spring. So prepare your future vines well in advance!

Where To Plant Grapes

Since your vines can live from fifty to a hundred years, you need to choose a place where they can stay indefinitely. These are plants in full sun, so it is necessary to choose the right location.

Northern Hemisphere-residents like me should aim for a south-facing location where they get constant sunshine throughout the year. For residents of the southern hemisphere, choose north-facing locations.

Your pitch should be prepared well in advance with a stand. You can use a trellis, a gazebo or some other type of support structure, but it should be there when you plant your vine.

Depending on the variety, you will need at least 6 feet of space between the plants. Some species need even more. This leaves enough room for the deep roots to spread.

Dwarf types are best for container growing, but even they need some form of trellis to climb, so plan ahead and make sure your supports are extremely sturdy. The vines will literally grow around them, making the support difficult to replace.

I personally recommend going for metal posts with heavy metal wires to form your trellis, but there are many other methods. Remember that it should last as long as your vines!

How To Plant Grapes

Bare-rooted grapes should be soaked in water at least 2 hours before planting. Potted grapes should be watered well the day before to reduce transplant shocks.

Start by digging a hole at least a foot wide and deep. Add four inches of good topsoil to the bottom of the hole, then examine the roots of your plant. Cut off anything that is broken or damaged.

Flowering phase

As soon as the temperature is constantly in the range of 59-68 degrees (usually 40-80 days after bud break), flowering will take place. At first it will appear as a knot-like growth on the tops of new shoots. Within a few weeks, these first clusters develop into larger flower clusters.

During the flowering phase, pollination occurs. While most commercially grown vines are self-pollinating, wild vines are not and require insects to pollinate the flowers. In addition, this stage is that of fertilization and seeding, the formation of small dots that will become seeds.

Heavy rains or wind during this period can become a problem, since fertilization is the cause of fruiting in the future, and rain or wind can prevent fertilization. In addition, low humidity, high temperatures or drought conditions can lead to a reduction in fertilization.

Care Of Grapes

Although a little finesse is necessary when growing grapes, there are a few simple basics that will give you quality fruits for your table. From there, we’ll explore the rudimentary basics, as well as some tips for taking your fruit to the next level.