Eden Keeper
 
Services
 
Products
 
De-Beautification Awards
 
Featured Topics
    Plants
         Native
         Edible
         Wildflowers
         Biblical
         Weeds
         Bartram
         Plant Famlies
    Places
    Practices
     Quips
 
Sitemap
 
Photos
 
Links
 
About
 
Contact

     Grapes, Vitis L., can be an extensive topic starting with a deep history, but that will only be touched while native grapes with improved varieties of will be discussed in the greatest detail.  Wine grape, V. vinifera L., is not native, but history traces back to ancient times including Biblical references and the Latin root of the name meaning life as in tree of life.  The first account of native grapes was from the Nordic explorers, who gave North America the name Vinland due to the abundance of grape vines.  Then during the Little Ice Age vineyards in northern Europe were extirpated by the cold weather along with Nordic colonies in Greenland, and this likely had a similar result on grapes in North America thus making the location of landings in Vinland uncertain despite archeological evidence being found in Newfoundland because no native grapes are growing there now.

     There are several native grapes. The most important native grapes are fox grape, V. labrusca L., which includes the cultivar Concord, and muscadine, V. rotundifolia Michx., where those lacking purple pigments are known as scuppernongs.  Besides Concord with purple grapes other cultivers of fox grapes include those with red grapes, white grapes as well as seedless versions of each.  Due to a fungal disease of American origin that attacks the roots of wine grapes all vineyards including those in France have wine grapes grafted onto the resistant rootstocks of American grapes.  Other wild grapes with cultivated varieties include:  riverbank grape, V. riparia Michx., summer grape, V. aestivalis Michx., and mustang grape, V. mustangensis Buckley. The frost grape, V. vulpina L., is a common wild grape that is to astringent to eat until after the first frost, but is is odd that the specific epithet means fox despite the common name fox grape being applied to another species.  Additional species of wild grape found in Alabama include:  graybark grape, V. cinerea (Engelm.) Engelm. ex Millard, also known as possum grape, catbird grape, V. palmata Vahl, and sand grape, V. rupestris Scheele.

     Ohio considers all grape vines to be prohibited noxious weeds if quantities of more than 100 are maintained less often than every other year.  A newcomer to Alabama was cutting down all the muscadines on his property because he thought they were kudzu vines, Pueraria montana (Lour.) Merr.  At least this could have been used to his advantage by training the resulting sprouts to grow on a trellis. 

     To grow muscadines  least a couple of cultivars, including one that is considered a male, would be best for both increasing pollination as well as extending the harvest period.  Proper spacing allows for maximum production by balancing the roots and vines without them competing for space.  Muscadines bear on new wood so they should be pruned annually, thus it is important to have a strong trellis at a good working height (at or just below eye level).  The trunk of each vine should grow up to the wire then a cordon extends in both directions half way to the next trunk (or to the end of the trellis in that case.  The cordons then have spurs about every hand breadth that are annually cut back to a few buds.  This method is called spur pruning.  It is very important to remove all girdling tendrils, especially any on the trunk and cordons.  Don't worry about making any mistakes because it will grow back just like a bad hair cut.  The pruning slash can then be used to make wreath bases.

     Despite claims to the contrary I have never seen more than a handful of grapes on a similarly pruned Concord grape because the fruiting wood is removed, therefore, I would consider maintaining a two wire trellis and alternate annual pruning between the wires.  On a one wire trellis alternating pruning of the spurs should work so that one has a cane to become fruiting wood and the other that just fruited is cut back to become a renewal spur.  Another method, called cane pruning, and rather than having permanent cordons a pair of canes near the trunk replace the previous fruiting wood while another pair become renewal spurs.  The best method of pruning, whether spur or cane, depends on the variety of grape so this will need to be determined.