Grape Arbors and Grapes.
 

Yesterday I was at the store looking for something and they had the grape plants out for sale.
So I bought four of them of different varieties.
They are Mars (black slip skin) Thompson Seedless (green) Flame (red) and Monukka (black).
They are planted in all four corners of the arbor between the raised beds in front by the corner posts supporting the arbor.
about 10 feet apart one way and 6 feet apart the other way.

I tried grapes a few years ago and the stock I bought didn't have one root on them but they grew and then died about 2 years later because of no water.
They were bought from Lowes.
Yes I planted them the right direction.:lol:
These I bought from Home Depot and they all had big bushy fresh roots growing on them.
They were advertised as 2 year old plants.
So I soaked them in a big pot of water in the house washed all of the dirt off dug holes spread the roots out and put some nice soil back in the planting holes.
There is no way these things will do without water now because they can drink from the raised beds.
I hope they all make it because I think it will be pretty cool to have three different colored grapes all growing on the same arbor.
They are also early mid and late season grapes this should allow me to eat grapes for a longer period of time.
In the pictures you are about to see I have green ribbons tied to where they are planted so I dont trip over them.:roll:
If anybody wants to post about their grapes and how they do it please feel free to put it here if you so desire, be my guest.:)
Worth

I looked and couldn't find another thread on grapes so I started one.
Here is the start.
Worth
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good luck. They look good. Now hang some hummingbird feeders to help control the drosophila fly if you have it in your area.

[QUOTE=clkeiper;527861]good luck. They look good. Now hang some hummingbird feeders to help control the drosophila fly if you have it in your area.[/QUOTE]

Hummingbird feeder and wind chimes are already there.;)
This is where I sit in the spring to have my evening beer and watch the humming birds.
In the picture on the left side you will see a 2x4 screwed to the side of the raised bed painted magenta.
I mixed paint I had to come up with the color and it is where I sit the beer.:cute:
Worth

Monukka grape starting to grow.
All of them have buds swelling. :D
Worth
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Worth,
Noticed the cactus plants. Have never grown any so excuse the maybe stupid question. Can the cactus and the grapes both thrive on similar amounts of water? Imagine they can live but maintain really good health?
So far looks like you got excellent well rooted grape stock to work with.
Len

[QUOTE=troad;530168]Worth,
Noticed the cactus plants. Have never grown any so excuse the maybe stupid question. Can the cactus and the grapes both thrive on similar amounts of water? Imagine they can live but maintain really good health?
So far looks like you got excellent well rooted grape stock to work with.
Len[/QUOTE]
The agave and the cactus are in containers.
Grapes dont really need a ton of water they grow wild here and live right along side the cactus and agave in the wild.
Dryer hotter years are also good wine years because of the amount of sugar is more.
I have done a ton of reading on making wine and wine grapes.
I had no idea some of the things they did to make wine sweet after it was made.
Like adding grape juice.
I dont plan on making wine I will be happy just to sit out there and eat grapes.


Worth

Grape update they are all coming along nicely.
Worth
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those are looking great Worth.

Looking really good. How much were the plants?

[QUOTE=luigiwu;535776]Looking really good. How much were the plants?[/QUOTE]

$7.50 a piece and there are four of them.
One American slip skin and three European.

Worth

Looks like a real nice setup

They look to be putting on good growth! Nice! Having some ripening during different times of the growing season is nice, and all different varieties to boot!

I have a couple different table grape varieties growing in my GH. One white and one purple. They have seeds, but I eat them with the pulp, fresh, then spit out the seeds. I also make grape juice with them. Yummy. I will have to find the pictures to post..

Ginny

[QUOTE=barefootgardener;535859]They look to be putting on good growth! Nice! Having some ripening during different times of the growing season is nice, and all different varieties to boot!

I have a couple different table grape varieties growing in my GH. One white and one purple. They have seeds, but I eat them with the pulp, fresh, then spit out the seeds. I also make grape juice with them. Yummy. I will have to find the pictures to post..

Ginny[/QUOTE]

Ginny they used to sell what they called back seeded grapes in the store around the holidays I have no idea what they were but I wish I did.
These are the ones that I made fruit salad with.
I was told they may have been concord.
Another thing I have noticed that bothers me is they are picking the grapes too soon.
The trusses are as green as can be.
I know what a good Thomson seedless can taste like from the vine when they are ripe.
The store bought ones aren't it.
I simply cannot stand a sour grape./puke

Next winter when the new growth goes dormant I am going to start propagating what I have to plant out in other places.

Worth

Very nice looking grape stock that you have there. Once established, I think you will be very happy with them!
My Italian uncle learned me well as a child with how to grow grapes, now I have to reach back into my mind and try to remember all of what he said. I have space for them and have been thinking about it, but they would be totally separate from my raised bed gardens. Side project, hmmmm....

This is the second year for the grapes the Thompson seedless is doing great and has climbed up to five feet so far.
I expect it to be at the top of the arbor this year.
Next is the Monukka.
All of them have survived.
This year I will take cuttings for more root stock.
Worth
Here is the Thompson Seedless.
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Forgot all about this thread. I did end up buying 2 grape plants last year and put them in a new separate raised bed with strawberries. They were growing nicely throughout last year and they were almost ready to put on their 1st horizontal trellis. Now I am wondering how they did through the winter. I did see my strawberries starting to green-up before the 3 foot of snow we got 2 weeks ago.
I'll check them out this weekend, the snow should be all melted by then.

How are they doing?
The Thomson seedless has reach almost to seven feet.

The Thomson seedless has crested the top of the arbor and the other three vines are in training school.

The darn thing is now over the top of the arbor.:D

Worth

This isn't exactly about grapes, but in the process I figured out why grapes are planted out in full sun. Our dewberries are getting ripe. They are all wild/volunteer. The ones ripening in the shade are tart. The ones out in full sun are sweet.

I have a grape in a pot from my friend's greenhouse! :D She brought it to me last fall, rooted from a cutting. I wasn't sure if it survived winter in my greenhouse, but today I checked and its buds are swelling.... 8-)

I haven't got a clue as to how well this will work but I have to try.
Flame is starting to take off like a rocket with the warm weather.
The next thing I need to do is figure out a way to get irrigation line ran across the driveway to the strip in the middle.
Something I didn't consider when I had the drive poured.
No way can I go under it with any ease.
The other option is to go around the back of the house and hit it that way.

Or I could do a very tall overhead line crossing the drive that looked nice with vines in it.
That would be cool driving (under) an arbor/bower.:yes:

Worth

pruning?
 

Have you done any pruning on your grape vines in their first year? And if so how much have you taken off and when?

We got a grape vine this year and it's just starting to leaf its buds but I'm not sure when or if I should cut anything off it this year.

Also: for your irrigation line, you may want to look at mole-tunnelling (Horizontal Directional Drilling). That's what our neighbour used to get a water pipe under our drive. [URL]http://www.moleuk.com/[/URL]

[QUOTE=Lasairfion;644266]Have you done any pruning on your grape vines in their first year? And if so how much have you taken off and when?

We got a grape vine this year and it's just starting to leaf its buds but I'm not sure when or if I should cut anything off it this year.

Also: for your irrigation line, you may want to look at mole-tunnelling (Horizontal Directional Drilling). That's what our neighbour used to get a water pipe under our drive. [URL]http://www.moleuk.com/[/URL][/QUOTE]

I haven't done any pruning nor will I this year.

Been a struggle to get them up out of the shady area into the sun.
By far Mars is the slowest.

The whole pruning thing is a little confusing to me as it is.
From what I have read the grape buds make the summer before for the next year.
Thomson Seedless is all the way to the top.

As for the drilling I have thought about it but undecided.
Worth

I just found out that the Thompson seedless grape is also known as Sultana in the rest of the world.
It is used for making white wine and is known as a multi purpose triple use grape.
This is one of the grapes I will be growing in the sunny center strip soon.

Worth

By some accident my grape vines have started to grow big time again.
All except the Mars grape it does not want to do anything.
I might have to dig it up this fall and move it to more sun.
I didn't know if they were getting too much water or not enough.
When I turned on Zone 3 of my sprinkler system they exploded with new growth,
The big agave fell over so I hauled it out of the way.
This allowed the Manukka to start growing big time.
Thompson seedless is running across the top of the arbor and branching.:yes:
All Flame wants to do is make branches. :lol:

Worth

All grape vines growing beyond any expectation except for Mars it is sulking in the shade.
Will move to new location maybe this winter.
Mars is the only American grape I have growing.

Did these plants make it through last winter?

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;720707]Did these plants make it through last winter?[/QUOTE]

They did great even had a truss or two.
Then the fire ants took up aphid farming on them.:evil:
Still alive but if it isn't one thing it is another.
Native grapes truck right along no problem.