Grape problem this year....Just me?
 

Hi everyone!

Just a question for the folks that grow grapes in the Midwest.

I am by no means an expert. I started a grape vine about 10 years ago because I was amazed that my father-in-law had a Concord grape vine in his backyard that he did absolutely nothing to and got quite a few grapes when the squirrels didn't get to them first. Heading out to the backyard and picking a bunch of sweet grapes with the little ones was truly one of the highlights of late Summer.

A few years back I planted a few more plants on the other end of the house. Another Concord, Catawba and a Niagra.
The new Concord last year produced beautifully, nothing on the Catawba and Niagra(newer plants, I figured no problem).
My neighbor on that side of the house even commented to me that they were absolutely picture perfect grapes with a taste to match.

This year, nothing produced on the one side of the house, nothing. On my original vine that usually produces colendars full of grapes, I got some grapes but they look horrible and don't have that great Concord taste. 90% are undersized, most are shruken up and punctured which is attracting the ants.

Was this a bad grape season? The weather around these parts of the Midwest was kind of wacky this year.
Pretty cold, very wet Spring.....a Summer with long stretches of heat and then long periods of heavy rain. I know that the Summer weather wouldn't have any affect on the plants that didn't even flower but what about the original plant?

I've always heard not to water your grapes. Did the rainy weather this year do in my grapes? That's what I am thinking.

Again, I'm still a novice with this trying to learn and there is no better place than this site.

Thanks!
Brian

Mine were horrible, it was all the rain that did it. I sprayed with fungicide, but it wasn't enough to save them. Almost every fungal disease they could get they got. What the disease didn't get the beetles finished off...

Do Japanese Beetles like your grapes? I had a wild grape plant on my fence, but I gave up this year because it attracted too many of those pests.

[QUOTE=recruiterg;235261]Do Japanese Beetles like your grapes? I had a wild grape plant on my fence, but I gave up this year because it attracted too many of those pests.[/QUOTE]

They love the grape leaves. If left unchecked, they will eat all the foliage and you will have a naked grape vine. I've never seen them bother the fruit though.
Our neighborhood really got bad with them about 4-5 years ago.
My neighbor and I have sprayed the last couple of years and it has really controlled them.
Plus, we have a neighbor a few houses down that puts out beetle traps(actually brings more beetles to your property) and I think it has taken quite a few away from me and brought them down to him. Beetles haven't been as bad the last few years.

My leaves were in pretty good shape this year.
There were times in the past you would pass the grapes and they would be completely covered in beetles and you would have to act fast. Now after battling them for several years, you can simply pick the few off and stomp on them.

My grapes did pretty well this year. I actually got to eat some before the cardinals and catbirds gobbled them up. The vines were here when I moved in twenty years ago and they are probably Concord. I didn't do anything to them, other than go out and shoot the Japanese beetles with Pyola to kill them off. They are in a spot that has a little bit of a micro climate and so they didn't suffer the full effect of the heat.