Grapes
Grapes grow very well here. The only problem we have had is keeping the birds from eating them all.
Grapes must be heavily pruned to fruit. Prune as soon as new leaves appear. Prune heavily, cutting back to the strongest branches on each plant. Train grapes along posts and strings. This allows air and light to get to all of the vine. These grapes were planted a year ago.
Grapes like most fruit plants want full sun. These are doing fine and receive sun all afternoon, but no morning sun.
Fertilizer is not recommended or needed for grapes. I put some worm castings down in the spring. I’m told fertilizers ruin the taste of the grapes so stay away from them.
Grapes want lots of water while getting established and should be fine after that. Grape roots will go as deep as 30′.
More information:
Royal Horticultural Society, Summer Grape Care
Hello,
I grow grapes in pots, treating them like bonsai trees below the soil and like conventional grape vines above the soil. A big difference is that potted grape vines need water and fertilizer regularly. Thanks for the link to the RHS article on grape care.
Erroll
That’s a cool idea. It just hadn’t occurred to me to try the grapes in pots. I bet it makes it easier to keep the birds away from the plants too.
The grapes lose all their leaves in the fall. But we grew grapes back in New England so I don’t expect winter to effect them here.
I gave up on the grapes. They grew well, and were heavy producers of fruit. But the mocking birds showed up each spring as soon as the grapes and didn’t leave till they had eaten all the grapes.