With the leaves of the mighty black walnut starting to turn across the region, giving a preview that fall and shorter days are abound, I found myself staring into a purple pearl abyss of grapes, along my fence line last week. Just the overwhelming smell of the grapes alone indicated that harvest time was near.
However, something was different this September. I had triple the grape clusters than years past and my vine is going on 10 years old.
I thought to myself: "WOW! I've never seen a grape vine load up like that in my life." Then reality set in: "What am I going to do with all these grapes?"
Luckily, I have hundreds of jars to fill with juice. The downside - I had my work cut out for me.
If you have juiced grapes before, then you know what I am talking about.
But after all the hard work of canning the juice is done and you finally get to taste your homegrown nectar, then you remember why you went to all the effort.
Growing a grape vine is easy and can be done in a small footprint. This makes it a wonderful fruit to grow in urban environments. Grapes are a perennial woody vine that belongs to the Vitaceae family. Most grapes are winter hearty and ready to harvest in September in our neck of the woods.
I always recommend purchasing new root stock at a local nursery. This way you are assured the correct cultivar for our grow zone and soil type.
Grapes need very little space to grow if properly trained to grow up a trellis. I have my grapes growing above a 42-inch chain link fence on a Four Arm Kniffin type trellising system. The bottom wire of my trellis starts 50 inches above the ground and is more like an eight-arm Kniffin. There are many different ways to trellis grapes, so find what works best for you.
One of the things I like about grapes is they grow in a wide range of soil types. If you have a location that doesn't stay waterlogged and gets full sun, more than likely a grape will grow in that spot.
One thing to keep in mind when picking a planting site is cold air. Remember, cold air sinks and in the spring can cause damage to your tender grape vine shoots. Grapes like to be in a flat wide valley, or best of all on a hillside out of the cold air pocket.
Grapes need very little fertilizer. In the spring, I sprinkle a layer of compost around the base of each grape vine. Nothing else is needed.
I average a bushel and a half of grapes every year from each vine. Grapes have shallow roots.
The most important thing to do is keep the weeds and grass pulled away from the base of the vine. You want the soil to warm fast in the spring and summer. This makes the grapes produce a heavier yield.
I use black hardwood mulch around my vine, although this practice is frowned upon in commercial grape operation where they keep the soil bare under the vines.
Japanese beetles will be your main threat each June. You will need to spray or hand pick each day until the beetle mating season is concluded. I use an organic pyrethrin spray and beetle pheromone traps to control the beetle population.
Powdery and Downy mildew may also be an issue during our wet springs and early in the summer. I recommend using a copper spray or Serenade for as long as you need to clear up the mildew. Both of these sprays are organic.
Grapes need one heavy pruning each spring, but don't worry. Grapes grow on new canes each year, so you will never need to think about what stays and goes. The only thing you don't cut is your main trunk and cordons.
All of last year's shoots with the old fruit spurs that you are not letting grow to become cordons should be cut off the vine.
When done pruning each spring you should be left with just the cordons and a few short old shoots. There are numerous diagrams and videos online to view proper pruning techniques.
You can shape and train your grape vine anyway you like. Which is why they are fun to work with and grow.
The big reason I planted one in my backyard was for added privacy in the summer. Like I mentioned before, my grape vine starts at 50 inches, then goes up another four feet. By the first of June, I have a privacy screen of green for my family. This season has truly been a grape year!
I think it's safe to say that we have had a bumper crop of everything this year and not just grapes. My apple tree is looking more like a willow tree these days with all the fruit weighing down the limbs.
Tomatoes, peppers, squash and pumpkins all seem to have given double their normal yield. This can all be attributed to a near perfect climatic growing season. Just enough water and the right temperatures all summer long have provided us with a brimming cornucopia of fresh eats..
Chris Postalwait is the agricultural and environmental research station and greenhouse manager for West Virginia State University Research & Development Corp. He is also the former owner of Orange Vine LLC, a wholesale commercial pumpkin and vegetable farm in Mason County. Reach Chris at postalcm@wvstateu.edu.