Good Grapcious

[wowmom2]

I moved here, I cut down trees, the next year a grape vine appeared (obviously excited about the new found sunlight)

Last year, just vine no fruits or flowers

This year, vine and flowers...no fruit.

What do these grapes want from me?

[Newt]

What do these grapes want from me?

Patience until they get established enough to produce fruit?* :shock:* I'm guessing they are wild grapes.* Are you trying to get them to grow and produce or do you want to get rid of them?* If they are wild grapes, where do you live?* Sorry, but I just can't remember where everyone lives.* It would be most helpful for me* if you could add your state and hardiness zone to your profile like I have done.

Newt

[thanrose]

Yeah, I was trying to remember where you are, too.

I'm pretty sure you aren't in Florida, but there is a virus present in sub tropical and tropical soils that prevents grapes from flourishing. Only the native wild muscadines are resistant, and the flavor of their fruit is not generally well liked.

I kinda think you are zone 7-ish, maybe Virginia, Tennessee? You may have better luck with good tasting wild grapes there. In Florida, we look for twinned tendrils: the tendrils have a split end with two parts that attach to walls or bark or trellis. Those grapes have a better flavor.

Any grape needs to establish roots and old stock before it will fruit well. If there is a woody stem at least pencil thick, you might start looking for fruit in the next year. Grapes, even wild ones, need to be pruned for best fruiting. Fruiting takes a lot out of a plant, so removing flower clusters or excess growth will help.

There are many sites that will give advice on the proper pruning of grapes. I'm guessing your vines are not old enough, and that you didn't prune last year or this year.

[wowmom2]

Sorry about not being specific.* Here are some additional details:

I am in NH (zone 5)

Last year I did prune them back and they grew fast.* This year I cleaned up the area very nicely and gave them plenty of room to grow.* I also set up a large trellis for them this year and they have flurished and flowered.**

This grape vine does have tendrills that grab ahold of the trellis with a lot of might.* I had originally tried to dig this out to move it closer to the garden however this grape vine must have been growing through the trees for years now (left over dried vines were hanging everywhere), and because it's been here so long it's stuck so deep in the ground that I am afraid to dig further (for structural integrity of the hill).* I should also add that this vine grows new vines like crazy from the root area... it is spreading with new shoots rapidly.

Now the parts that flowered almost look like a small version of the grapes you would pick up in the grocery store after you eat them and you leave the stem portion intact.* Then the flowers disappeared and so has the stem work?!?!?!

I wasn't aware of wild grapes...that is really interesting.*

I really greatly appreciate you both helping and hope this additional information can aid in getting some more answers.

Thanks for your time!!! I look forward to your replies!

*

[justwannano]

I tried to tame wild grapes and just gave up becuse they wern't worth the trouble.

I guess it depends on what you want from them.

There is no guarantee that you'll get anything useable.*

Tame grapes aren't really expensive and starting them only takes 3 years to produce a crop so large you'll wonder what to do with them all. And you'll know what kind of grape you will be harvesting.

good luck

just

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[Newt]

Wowmom, since you are in NH, you probably have the Northern Fox Grape.* "Concord and Catawba varieties of cultivated grapes arose from our wild Northern Fox Grape".* "...the Scuppernong variety [came] from the wild* Southern Fox Grape or Muscadine, as well as many others."* These grapes do best in the Eastern half of the US.* Eurpoean grapes do best in California.

The above quotes came from this Illinois site.* Here's more interesting info from this same site.
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/200-299/nb204.htm

About 50 species of grapes are natives of the warm and temperate parts of the world. About 20 of these occur in the United States and a half-dozen are common in the midwest. They are so variable and have so many overlapping characteristics that amateurs have trouble in naming individual vines correctly.

If you read the entire article, you'll probably decide to do as Justwannano suggests and purchase a cultivated variety for your pleasure and leave the wild ones to the birds and mammals.** :)

Newt