Growing grapes

[fjdurbin]

I have lived in my home in coastal NC for about 3 years. The house was mostly unattended the previous three years and some volunteer grape vines were in the back yard. I mowed around them and they seem very hardy. Last fall I cut them back to near the ground. Each separate plant has around 8 or 12 stems coming up about 6 inches from the ground.

I'm thinking of moving them into a row and putting up a wire and stakes to support them. Would this be a waste of time?

If they do grow should I discourage growth on all but one or two of the stems?

I welcome your suggestions. Thank you.

 

[grapeman]

It is always tempting to grow some free grapes, after all they didn't cost anything- yet. Grapes take a fair amount of work to grow. If you just want some nice pretty grapevines, they could fill the bill. Put them where you want them and let them grow. If however you have a specific use in mind for the grapes, it will take a lot more work. You need to replant them, stake them up, set up some type of trellis or arbor, train the vines to it, prune them repeatedly, control insects, control disease and then hope that the "free" vine you used will produce grapes at all (it could be a male vine and never flower as some wild vines do).

Do yourself a favor and buy a few vines of a variety you like and is adapted to your region.

 

[fjdurbin]

Hi Grapeman, I think I will do both-keep some and buy some. There are 6 volunteers. 3 are Muscadine and 3 something else. One of the Muscadine had grapes and they were tasty. So I will keep one Muscadine and one of the others and buy the rest.

I will be putting up posts and cable. Probably two lines that are each 40 to 60 feet.

What do you suggest about the multiple stems coming out of the ground on each plant? Should I keep all of the stems but one or two trimmed back so that the plan concentrates on the one or two stems that I keep?

How long does it usually take for the vines to bear fruit?

Thank you for your reply.

 

[lawrstin]

Moving the vines may be more work than you think. Typically, all most all varietals are grafted from vines. The vines are then grafted from American root stock if the varietal is susceptible to phylloxera. Since you don't have a lot to invest other than time and sweat go ahead and give it a whirl. Good luck and enjoy .


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[lawrstin]

I personally wouldn't worry about the shoots yet. I have heard muscadines (no experience) are very hardy but wait to see if the vine survives the replant shock. Then after a year choose the best shoot or shoots and use the shoot(s) as the trunk.


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[grapeman]

Prune the vines back to one or two shoots and they will concentrate their growth into those. You should begin to have fruit in a few years although they will try to produce before then.