Grape Care Guide

Grape Care Guide

Introduction
For small homeowners who may not have room for grapes in their garden or lack a fence for vines, incorporating them into the landscape is a great solution. Grapes are beautiful, decorative, and graceful in both fruiting and non-fruiting states, making them an excellent addition to any yard scape. We carry traditional bunch grapes, and muscadine type grapes and will cover both in this guide, as there are differences in care for each. 

Care Guide for Bunch Grapes

-Climate Considerations and Air Circulation

• Most varieties of bunching grapes are prone to diseases that make heavy spraying a necessity. We select the most disease resistant varieties and have found many to have exceptional flavor and vigor. Depending on your climate, all bunching grapes should still be monitored and managed for potential disease concerns.

• In humid climates, air circulation is essential to reduce the risk of black rot, a naturally occurring fungus that appears as brown freckles on grape leaves. Rain splashes onto these brown spots, releasing spores that can spread to other parts of the plant, potentially causing the fruit to shrivel into hard, unusable raisins. 

• Growing grapes on a trellis with wires at 4’ and 6’ height allows the plant to remain off the ground, improving air circulation and reducing the risk of mildew. 

Planting and Growing
Plant grapes in well-drained soil with moderate nutrient levels, and keep weeds and grass under control. Grapes have extensive surface roots that suffer when competing with weeds. Keep the plants well-watered, and be sure to prune correctly. Pruning for bunch grapes is labor intensive, but well worth it for improved fruit production. 

Pruning for Bunch Grapes: from the start and yearly maintenance.

• At planting time, your grape vine should be cut back to 2 branches containing one bud each. During the growing season, train all canes upward. 

• In the winter before the second growing season, select 2 canes and attach them to a training stake–these will become your trunks. Remove the remaining canes. Having 2 trunks is the best method to give the plant some “insurance” in case of winter or other damage. Attach these canes as they grow to the fruiting wire using cloth, twine, or plant ties. Make a loop around the cane to allow room for the trunk to expand.

• In the second and third dormancy season, select 4 canes to become your fruiting “arms”. Wrap them around your trellis wire, two in each direction, one per wire. Then select 3-4 canes for “renewal spurs” pruning them back to 2 buds only. These will likely be your most vigorous canes for next year’s fruiting canes. 

• This method is called the Four Arm Kniffin System and was developed for grape pruning in 1852. This article from NM State University is a great resource with visuals https://pubs.nmsu.edu/_h/H303/index.html

• Grapes bear fruit exclusively on one year old canes–so each year during dormancy, you will select 4 one year old canes and attach them to your fruiting wires as described above and remove the previous year’s fruiting canes. Depending on the variety of the grape, cut the fruiting canes back to 8-12 buds per cane, for a total of 30-50 buds per vine. Remove all other canes, remembering to leave your 3-4 short renewal spurs. Wrap the fruiting canes 2-3 times around the fruit wire and attach them securely to ensure proper growth direction.

• Different varieties of grapes have differing growth vigor–more vigorous grapes (like Concord) can maintain closer to 50 buds per vine, while a less vigorous grape like Mars should have closer to 30. Research your variety to learn the recommended number of buds per vine. 

• This method should be repeated annually during dormancy for optimal fruit production. Grapes pruned only minimally will produce fewer and smaller clusters of fruit. While this method of pruning is relatively severe (and labor intensive), it is the best way to promote robust fruit production on your vines.

• Summer pruning: in June, it is good practice to tip new growth, leaving about 15 leaves per shoot. Selectively removing 1-2 leaves near fruiting zones helps reduce the risk of botrytis bunch rot and powdery mildew. Clusters that develop contact to other vines tend to ripen more uniformly and are less susceptible to rot. Maintaining airflow throughout the vine canopy helps manage risk of black rot spreading from leaf to leaf and to fruit clusters. 

Bagging Grapes for Spray-Free harvest:

Since even the most resistant bunching grape varieties are still at risk of infection from black rot, bagging your grape bunches is a method that has become tried and true for us here at the nursery. When the bunches are young (pea sized grapes), inspect them for any spots or imperfections, and use a white waxed paper sandwich bag or specialized fruit-bagging bags to enclose the best bunches and allow them to develop to ripening inside the bag. Bunches with black rot spots already present will only shrivel in the bag, so don’t waste your supplies on those. Securely close the bag with staples or twist ties so that moisture cannot penetrate it, but allow enough room for the bunch to fill it out. This is the most effective method to avoid spraying your grapes and can produce beautiful clusters. Typically bunches will emit a strong, sweet fragrance to indicate ripening. 

• Black Rot and other disease prevalence has a lot to do with climate conditions and will be a larger issue in humid climates and rainier seasons. Some spray may still be required to manage disease depending on severity that season, but most of our vines here at the nursery are able to produce beautiful fruit, even if the vines exhibit some unsightly spotting.
  
  

Care Guide for Muscadine Grapes

Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) are native to the southeastern United States and thrive in hot, humid conditions. Known for their resistance to drought and disease, Muscadines can be long-lived under favorable conditions but are not hardy in northern climates.

Muscadines are vigorous growers with large glossy leaves and robust vines. The unique, thicker-skinned fruit come in purple or bronze varieties and exhibit an almost bubblegum-like sweetness at peak ripeness. A southern staple that has long been enjoyed fresh or made into muscadine wine, these vines are a fantastic grape option for growers in hot, humid, southern climates. 

Planting: muscadines should be planted in a full-sun location in well draining soil. Once established they are fairly drought tolerant, although monitoring watering needs will aid fruit production. Muscadines should be trellised similar to bunching grapes for optimal air circulation and ease of harvest, but can be grown on a variety of trellis styles. Ease of access as the vine grows is important, as regular pruning is necessary for fruit production. 

• Pruning Muscadines: Muscadines grow vigorously and need careful pruning. Establish a main trunk and cut it off when it reaches the desired height. 

• From this trunk, allow 8 arms to radiate outward and wrap around the wires of the trellis. This will establish the main vine form that you will maintain. 

• These arms can bear fruit once they are a year old, but the canes that grow from them will need to be spur pruned to promote fruiting.

• Spur pruning involves cutting back the current season’s growth to form spurs, which are short canes containing about 6 buds each. 

• This can (and should) be performed throughout the growing season to control the rapid growth of the vine. 

• Winter pruning during dormancy follows the same process as the summer pruning, create spurs from any excessively long canes, remove any dead wood and clean out overcrowded branching and growth that is crisscrossing or growing inward. 

• To keep the vine healthy, renew the main arms every eight years. 

Edema (Oedema) of Muscadines
Non-infectious edema causes leaves to develop tan or brown bumps when they absorb water faster than it can be processed through the leaf cells. To prevent edema, ensure proper drainage and space plants for better air circulation and light exposure.

Conclusion
By following these tips and using the appropriate products, you can enjoy healthy grapevines with minimal disease and maintenance. Regular pruning, proper planting, and disease management are key to ensuring your grapevines thrive.