5ac

[arthur]

Looking to plant grapes for u pick how many plants should I plant for 5ac. rows 8 feet apart and dose any one else do u-pick and is it a good $ how muck would you think I could make a year grapes are concord and catawba

 

[grapeman]

I don't want to discourage you but this likely won't work well for you.

It costs between 5 and 12 thousand dollars per acre to grow the vines and get the trellising in and then a thousand or two per acre for the first few years to maintain them with no return until year 4 or 5. Then the grapes would likely sell for about 25-50 cents a pound for u-pick. Expect about 10000 pounds production. Remember grapes have a narrow harvest window so the whole five acres would need picking within a week to ten days. It is hard to get enough people there, picking and buying in that time period. You also have yearly production costs which include machinary maintenance, fuel, any sprays and labor.

I would start small and see if it pays and then expand as needed.

 

[Runningwolf]

In addition to what Rich said, a bad frost or two could wipe out your crop but you still have to keep up all of the maintenance. What you do this year effects your yield next year.

 

[SLOweather]

Getting back to the OP's question, this PDF has a lot of great info on spacing, and how much wine to expect, among other things...

How Much Wine Can a Small Vineyard Produce.pdf