Grapes: Growing and Harvesting

Besides being fantastic in a fruit salad, grapes offer various uses, from jams to wine.

Let me offer a little insight into the beautiful world of grapes. 

Winter is the time to consider if you want to plant your vineyard. Read on and decide.

The earliest settlers in the New World found wild grapes growing along streams and in timbered areas. Crossing them with species from Europe has produced plants that combine the hardness of the native American grapes with the high quality of most European types. Grapes are very sturdy, can withstand drought, and succeed even in rocky, infertile soils.

Grape vines can remain productive for 20 to 30 years with proper care.

Because of the many cultivars, you choose fruit colors, flavors, Ripening times, and culinary uses.

If you can, buy only disease-resistant varieties.

Choose a warm and sunny location to plant. An ideal site is a gentle slope to the south with excellent drainage. Special soil preparation may not be necessary, though the plants will appreciate a halfway-rich soil with plenty of organic matter. The best time to plant is in late winter or early spring, especially for bare-root plants, so they can be established by summer and withstand the summer weather extremes.

Grapes respond well to shallow cultivation to get rid of weeds. Try to keep an area of the soil under the vines at least 4 feet wide weed-free. Mulch to Help with the weed problem and retain moisture. It also looks nice. Avoid moist, rich organic materials because they may release nitrogen into the soil, contributing to uneven ripening and overly vigorous growth.

A good use for grapevines is to train them on an existing border fence or trellis. That will set off the property boundaries, add privacy, and screen undesirable views. The type of landscape use, amount of leisure time, and desire for fruit need to be considered in determining the number of plants you need. Weeding, tying, pruning, and spraying are necessary for the best production.

Cultural operations.

Vigorous-year-old plants are probably best to use. Two-year-old plants are more expensive and usually don't grow any better than one-year-old plants.

Get your stock from a reputable nursery that will guarantee the plants are high quality, true to name, and disease-free.

To have productive grapes that will produce quality fruit, the vine must be trained and pruned to a definite system. 

You should prune plants rather severely.

When you plant your grapes, put them at the same depth as in the nursery, 5 to 8 feet apart in the row. Spread the roots so they radiate out from the stem. Cut off any broken or damaged portions of the roots and shorten any that are excessively long. Cover the roots with topsoil and tamp them down to eliminate air pockets and ensure good contact for root soil. Leave a shallow basin around the plant and fill it with water. That will settle the soil around the roots and provide needed moisture. Later, fill the hole to the level of the surrounding soil.

Prune each dormant plant to a single cane, then head or cut back that cane to 2 or 3 potent buds. Shoots will arise from these buds. Select the most vigorous 2 or 3 and tie them loosely to a stake next to the plant. One or 2 of these will become the trunk.

Erect a permanent trellis for the vine with the top wire about 6 feet above the ground. In the first year, train the trunk to shoot up to the top wire. 

Two lateral shoots or cordons are directed along the wires the following year.

Once the horizontal cordons are developed, fruiting spurs of 2 to 5 buds are left along the cordon. These will produce the shoots with the grapes.

Grapes don't need direct sunlight to ripen, but the amount of light hitting the leaves is significant to the fruit's quality. Leaves manufacture the sugars that are then translocated to the fruit. For the best results, give them full sun if at all possible.

One of the hardest things about growing grapes is getting to the ripe ones. Before the birds do, you can put netting over the vines or tie brown paper bags around the fruit clusters.

How do you know when they are ripe?

Although color change is essential in deciding when to harvest, it isn't the only thing. Most grapes change color as they mature, but most color up before they flavor. When ripe, the fruit has a natural bloom or whitish coating. Seeds change from green to brown. The grape's size and firmness are other factors; most grapes become less firm when ripe. The best sign of ripeness is the sweetness of the grape. Go ahead and test them! Unlike most fruits, once grapes are cut from the vine, they will not ripen further.

Once you have harvested your grapes, you can store them for up to 8 weeks in ideal conditions. Store at 32 degrees with 85% humidity. Make jelly, jam, juice, or wine if you have too many to eat!

Source of Information on Grapes: tnnursery.net