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Blog

Growing Grapes in Cold Climates

9/24/2018

1 Comment

 
I distinctly remember planting my bare root grape vines in late April, 4 years ago, with a couple volunteers, Tim and Carli. It was their first day helping out and I felt kind of bad about the task I had chosen. Rather than giving them an uplifting experience of planting seeds in a backyard garden, we were working next to my driveway, along a busy noisy road.

I had my reasons for the placement of the grapes (which I cover in the video) and of course, Tim and Carli were excellent sports. We busted up the sod along the fence, planted the vines, and mulched them well with wood chip. That same season, I planted some hyssop and oregano in that area too. And in the first year, the vines produced a couple select bunches. Every since then, they have been consistent and abundant.

Like I mention in the video, I'm no expert grape grower and I'm certainly still figuring out the art of pruning. However, we've had quite a bit of success and gotten great yields. I share some of my tips with you in the video below. 

After watching the video, I'd love to hear from you. Have you had any grape growing successes and challenges? Please share in the comments below!
1 Comment
Robert Flaherty
9/28/2018 04:42:51 pm

I have been growing Beta (I think) grapes for nearly 40 years on the south side of our deck in full sun. Some things I have learned:

Pest management: We encourage ladybugs to patrol the grapes. We sometimes spray the emerging grape leaves with Canola oil after the ladybugs are active, if we start to develop leaf blight.
Pruning: I find it effective to prune the grapes after harvest in early-mid October. Next year's crop of grapes will grow from the new spring vines that grow off of last year's growth, so after pruning, I make sure I leave the main trunk on each grape plant with several of this year's new branches ("1 year old canes" or "laterals") attached. I also leave a few "renewal spurs" that look encouraging, in case the "1 year old canes" die over winter (rare). I leave at least 10 inches between these laterals and tie them up to a trellis as shown below. The new grapes next spring will grow off of the "1 year old canes/laterals". Here is a useful image:
http://www.thehomesteadgarden.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/grapeprune.gif

Additional thoughts:
This year I tried something new: In early August I trimmed the leaves away from each cluster so that each cluster could receive direct sun much of the day. WOW! I have never had as good a ripening rate as I have this year. Highly recommended, and pretty to see the clusters ripening also.
I push the snow off of my raised deck onto the trimmed vines, similar to what you do with your driveway snow. As you said, the snow provides insulation to the vines and gives them great soil moisture to start the spring.
This year I put two bee houses near the vines to encourage solitary/miner bee pollinators, which may account for the HUGE harvest I have this year...the best in 40 years.
Gardeners are the personification of hope. I am hoping that this year's crop will be a little sweeter than in previous years (real mouth-pucker-ers) so I can try making the jam you described.

Thanks and best wishes.
--Bob

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