Grape Vine or Berry-Baring Weed?

[xvrickh]

I just purchased a new house and the previous owners were very health conscientious and planted fruit trees/bushes around the house. Around the yard are apple trees, cherry trees and a raspberry bush. It appeared that once the former family decided that they were going to sell their house they stopped on their lawn care. I was out pulling weeds today and finally had to stop as my back was getting sore. I went over to the raspberry bush to grab some for a snack. It has about a 2 foot fence around it so I stepped over it to get to the fruit that hasn't been picked. There are various vines all over but one was a massive, massive vine across the whole top of the raspberry patch. I grabbed a piece of it and easily tore part of the vine. I was pretty deep into the raspberry bushes, and I had been pulling weeds all afternoon, so I though "well, why not another... this one seems rather easy to pull off." As I walked my way to where the vine went into the ground I noticed berry-like fruits hanging from the vine. My stomach about sank when I realized it could be a grape vine I was ripping off the top of my raspberry bush. Just wondering if someone could confirm the pictures below...

Fruit...
http://s22.postimg.org/6o9ph2qzl/IMG_20140723_145946_442.jpg

Foliage...
http://s3.postimg.org/66c0ledk3/IMG_20140723_145934_248_1.jpg

Next question... now that I ripped out half the vine will it be ok? It's still in the ground, but it is not sprawling as much as it was before. Instead of covering 6 feet atop my raspberry bushes it only covers ~3 ft. Any quick suggestions on how to maintain it? It seems to be doing fine alone, but if there is anything I could to to have it grow more I would appreciate it.

Thanks for your help!

 

[bchilders]

You defiantly have a grape vine. I am not sure of the variety but it appears to be an American bunch grape. You probably have not hurt it any. It will do better if you can put it on a trellis and prune it back close to the main trunk every winter. Send more pictures when the fruit is ripe.

 

[blumentopferde]

This is definitely a grapevine.
I'm not an expert but probably some native american variety.

Don't worry about hurting them, they are very tough and vigorous fellows and need to be kept in place!

Grapevines need a trellis otherwise they will just crawl on anything. The easiest way should be the top wire cordon. Have a quick search on the net for it!

 

[xvrickh]

It's growing right next to our wooden fence, so I may direct it that way in the near future.

 

[blumentopferde]

a fence should also do!
But have a read about pruning a vine. There are some rules that you need to understand if you want to keep the vine in place!

 

[LoneStarLori]

It looks like a Mustang grape to me judging by the small clusters. Usually not more than 12 grapes at the most per cluster.
They are a wild vine that grows throughout the south. I have them on my fence line and they are freely growing on anything that will allow it to climb.

Here is some more info:
http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/08/grape-mustang.html

 

[xvrickh]

I'm in a zone 5 climate (Northeast illinois) so I'm not sure if a mustang grape would be able to handle the winters here. But thanks for the suggestion! Any other ideas, Lori?

 

[LoneStarLori]

Zone 5? You're right. Probably not a Mustang. I'm clueless. Maybe a Yankee grower will chime in.

 

[grapeman]

It is a grapevine alright. The exact variety will be hard to determine at this point. Let the fruit ripen and see what you get.