Moved into a house with grape vines out back. Who ever planted them has them growing on a rolled up fence and down the propery line on the fence. I have NO clue how to care for grape vines!!!! There are also little baby vines growing up all willy nilly in the yard around the vines. Do you trim the vines, how much do you need to water them......HELP!!!!!!!! All I have ever done with a grape is eat it. Thanks..Debi
Grapes should be cut back every fall to produce good healthy clumps of grapes. If not, they tend to be sparce and smaller. Neglected grapes can be trimmed back quite a bit, back to one or two stalks 4 ft high with good results, thereafter trimming suckers. Now Michigan also has a wild grape which is sparce and small and I don't know if there is too much you can do with them. There are tricks to trimming, like cuting the leaves around the fruit ... and think it is too much to explain it all here so I might sugest you check out a book at the library -- don't have a sugested book but maybe someone else does...
Thank you for your reply. How can I tell if they are Michigan wild grapes? If they are, are they flavorful enough to make my time worth it? Thanks again....Debi
My recolection are the grapes purple, small, sparce, and mostly seed ... but this is in the wild so I guess they could be biger cultivated and cared for. Even so, I don't think they would compare to the grapes normally cultivated as far as size and quality goes. I do know people collect, eat, and make wine so they obvously feel it is worthwhile. I also seem to recall the wild grapes are disease free and for this reason were used as rootstock for more desease prone varities but I really can't verify that. Maybe someone else can chime in?
The Michigan wild grape is vitis labrusca, in the native form described as producing "few small purple fruit". The Concord was developed from this native stock and produces lot of large purple fruit. If your vines were planted as seems likely if they are along a fence, they are more than likely Concords or perhaps Niagara which is a decendant of the Concord (crossed with Cassady). The Niagara is amber or yellow when ripe so they are easily distinguished in the fall. Even if they are the native vines, the friut production and quality will be vastly improved by proper pruining to funnel the plant's energy into fewer bunches and less vegitation. Ralph
I am originally from South Mississippi where we have muscadine vines everywhere in the woods. We gather them to make jelly and for wine. I came to Michingan after Hurricane Katrina, in September, 2005. I found these little wild grapes out in back of the apartment buiding where we live. They were small (tiny) like a huckleberry, and very purple. They made the most wonderful jelly I have ever eaten. The color is dark and they have a wonderful taste. My daughter lives near Detroit, and her back yard is full of grape vines. She has the little tiny ones, but also has some that are much bigger, and still green at this point. I am anxious to see what they turn out to be. If you like to make wine or jelly, then I am sure you would find it worth your while to use these tiny purple grapes. Once you taste them, you are hooked.
Hi Deb, I hope you made Grape Jelly! I did last fall and it was yummy. I made it the old fashion way--NO Certo--Just grape juice sugar and a little lemon--long cooking but the color and flavor were just wonderful. Here I am helping my owner pick the grapes and make the jelly! Mr Darcy
