Go Nuts with Grapes

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Newly planted grapevines should be protected their first year with “grow tubes” (plastic tubes 1 to 3 feet in height), which provide a mini-greenhouse environment and protect against damage from rabbits or deer.

Pestering the pests

Fencing is the best long-term solution to keeping rabbit and deer damage to a minimum in your vineyard, but it is costly for more than a small garden-sized plot. Multiple-line electric fence or 10-foot-high predator-safe fence are the only secure methods of keeping the four-legged critters in check. But even a Fort Knox-worthy barrier might allow a determined animal in. What to do?

A number of spray-on repellents on the market today are effective if used religiously during the growing season and reapplied after any heavy rains. These repellents are somewhat expensive, but, compared to the cost to secure one acre with predator fencing, they may provide protection without a huge initial investment.

Birds and other fruit-loving animals might view your vineyard as a late-season smorgasbord. You can cover the vines with a light mesh designed to protect fruit from aerial attack, install any manner of scarecrow device, attract hawks and other bird predators to your vineyard, or share the bounty.

Training those vines

To get the most of your planting and to keep the grapes healthy, you need to train them to a trellis. Most trellis systems involve a combination of high tensile steel wire and wooden posts. All trellises provide stable vine positioning and promote optimal fruit development.

The two-wire Kniffen trellis system is one of the most popular because it is easy to install, relatively economical, and it works well. Wooden posts support horizontal wires at about 3 feet and 6 feet off the ground. As the vine grows taller, it is first attached to the lower wire and then the top wire. At that point, the main stem is secured and pruned, which allows shoots to branch out horizontally in either direction along the two wires. These shoots will produce the vine’s future fruit.

Pruning

Pruning is one of the most important skills you will need to learn in order for your grape vines to mature and produce a crop year after year. Pruning is necessary to shape the vine, maintain it on the trellis, and it allows you to control the number, position and vigor of the fruiting canes that will produce grapes. Plan to prune your grape vines heavily during the dormant season before their buds begin to swell in spring. Careful growing season pruning and selective fruit cluster removal can also improve grape quality. Check with a grape grower’s guide or your local extension office for detailed instructions.

First year

Watering and weed control are essential to give first-year vines a good start. The goal of that initial growing season is to establish a healthy root system and prepare the vine for winter. In late fall, the plant will “harden off” as it enters winter dormancy, which sets the stage for the next spring’s clean up and pruning. Under no circumstances should grapes be exposed to broadleaf herbicides such as 2, 4-D.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print