Growing Grapes

Why am I posting about this now? Because in Ohio, it is time to prune your grape vines! Plant your cuttings in the spring to grow more grape vines!

Like most plants, grape vines really like rich soil that is fairly well drained. However, they will grow well in soils heavier than most ornamental plants prefer. For one, they are very vigorous growers so soil that holds some moisture actually helps them.

New grape plants should be set out (planted) in the spring.Fall planting is not recommend in cold climates because the heaving of the soil during the freezing and thawing process can actually push freshly planted grapes vines out of the ground. So plant in the spring so they are rooted in nicely by fall.

If planting on an arbor you can put the plants as close as 48″ apart. If you are planting them in more of a garden setting on a trellis they should be 7 to 8 feet apart. After planting wait about
7 to 10 days then apply about 8 ounces of 10-10-10 garden fertilizer. Just sprinkle the fertilizer on top of the soil, over the root zone.

Do not over fertilize. After the grape vines have been established for a year you can apply about 16 ounces of fertilizer around the root zone each of each plant in the early spring.

Grape vines need support.
You need a system for supporting your grape vines. You can put posts in the ground and stretch a heavy wire between the posts. Or two wires. Make the top one about 60″ high and the lower one about 36″ high.

As your new grape plants grow you’ll want to keep them pruned to a single vine until they almost reach the top wire, then allow the vine to grow in two directions like a “T”. Then keep the vine tied to the wire as it grows. Grape vines can easily grow as much as 12′ in a season.

In the latter part of each winter grape vines require aggressive pruning. Left unpruned they will produce a great deal of grapes, but with that much fruit on the plant none of it will mature into
quality fruit. So you control that with heavy pruning.

Leave the main vine that grows along the wire or wires, then all vines coming off of that vine need to be pruned back to just 3 to 5 nodes or buds. The nodes are the little bumps on the vine with the
little curly cues growing from them.

How’s that for a technical explanation?
The part of the vine that you leave is called a spur. Space the spurs that you leave evenly along the vine so they are not too close together. This part of the plant needs sunlight and good air
circulation.

On a mature plant the pruning will require removing as much as 80% to 90% of the previous year’s growth.
In Ohio mid to late February is a good time to prune, so adjust your pruning around that time frame.

These varieties are all very popular and tolerate cold climates well. Concord, Niagara, Delaware, Reliance, Candice, Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc.

A well maintained grape vine will produce grapes
for over 30 years.