How to Grow Grapes: The Complete Guide (2024)

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• Grapevines should be planted inearly spring after the date of the last hard freeze has passed. Vines are usually purchased as dormant,bare-rootplants.
• Most grape varieties are self-fertile. To be sure, ask when you are buying vines if you will need more than one plantforpollination.
• Select a site with full sun. If you don’t have a spot with full sun, make sure it at least gets morning sun. A small amount of afternoon shade won’t hurt. Your soil needs to be deep, well-drained, and loose. You also need good aircirculation.
• Grape vines will need to be trained to some sort of support to grow upward. This will also cut the risk of disease. The support needs to be in place at planting.
  • One option is a sturdytrellis or arbor. The arbor may have two, four or six posts, depending on whether it’s attached to the house or another structure. The top can be secured with 2-inch by 4-inch wooden slats that hold the arbor together and topped with 1-inch by 2-inch wood pieces to create the latticework for the vines to grow on. You may also need corner braces to secure the whole structure.Grow the grapes, one per post, selecting the strongest cane. Allow it to grow to the top of the post the first year, securing it to the post as itgrows.
  • If you are low on free space, try growing grapes on a stake. Pound in a sturdy stake next to the grapevine and securely attach it. Keep the vine growing vertically. Let the vine grow to the top of the stake the first year, then top it. Allow 4 to 5 side canes to grow. Remove all therest.
• Before planting grapevines, soak their roots in water for two or threehours.
• Space vines 6 to 10 feet apart (16 feet formuscadines).
• For each vine, dig a planting hole 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide. Fill with 4 inches of topsoil. Trim off broken roots and set the vine into the hole slightly deeper than it grew in the nursery. Cover the roots with 6 inches of soil and tamp down. Fill with the remaining soil, but don’t tamp thisdown.
• Water at time ofplanting.

• Do not fertilize in the first year unless you have problem soil. Fertilize lightly in the second year ofgrowth.
• Use mulch to keep an even amount of moisture around thevines.
• A mesh net is useful in keeping birds away from buddingfruit.

PruningGrapes

Pruning is very important. Grapes produce fruit on shoots growing off of one-year-old canes. If you have too many old canes (from no pruning), then you’ll get fewer grapes. If you prune back your vines completely each year, then you get lots of new growth, but again, fewgrapes.

Pruning is done in late winter when the plant is dormant, usually aroundMarch. But for the first year or so, the goal is to create a strong root system and trunk. Plant in spring and prune back the grapevine to three buds. Then wait until the firstwinter.

• If you are growing grapes on an arbor or trellis:Grow the grapes, one per post, selecting the strongest cane. Allow it to grow to the top of the post the first year, securing it to the post as it grows. The first winter, top the cane and allow it to grow side branches along the top of the arbor. If you let the vines just continue to grow, they will produce dense shade, but little fruit. Prune the grapes each winter by removing those canes that fruited the previous year, cutting back one-year-old canes to five to six buds, and leaving some renewal canes pruned back to two to three buds. The goal is to have canes on the trellis spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. Remove any weak, thin canes. You want to leave enough fruiting canes on the trellis to fill it back in each summer, but not so many that it becomes a tangledmess.
• If you are growing grapes on a stake,cut back the side canes in the first winter to three buds on each. These will send out shoots that will produce grapes the next year. Remove all weak and spindly growth, especially along the lower parts of the trunk. The second winter, prune back the healthiest canes to six to ten buds, select two canes as renewal spurs, and prune those back to three buds on each and remove all other canes. Repeat this pruning each winter. Your trunk should be able to support four to seven fruiting canes each year as it getsolder.

Note: Seedless varieties will produce smallergrapes.

• ‘Edelweiss’: Hardy in zones 4–7 (–20°F), early white variety. Table andwine.
• ‘Reliance’: Hardy in zones 4–8, seedless, pink tablegrape.
• ‘Seibel’: Hybrid, wine grape. Coldhardy.
• ‘Swenson Red’: Hardy in zones 4–8, red tablegrape.
• ‘Magnolia’: White Muscadine wine grape. Sweet. Best in zones7–9.
• ‘Valiant’: Eating grape hardy to Zone2.

• If grapes aren’t ripening, pinch back some of the foliage to let in moresunlight.
• Grapes will not continue ripening once picked from the vine. Test a few to see if they are toyour liking before harvesting, usually in late summer orearlyfall.
• Grapes are ripe and ready to harvest when they are rich in color, juicy, full-flavored, easily crushed but not shriveled, and plump. They should be tightly attached to the stems.Sample different grapes from different clusters, and the taste should be between sweet and tart.Check our ripeness guide for more tips oncolor.
• Grapes can be stored for up to six weeks in the cellar, but grapes can absorb the odors of other fruits and vegetables, so keep them separate. Use cardboard boxes or crates lined with clean, dry straw. Separate bunches with straw or sawdust. Check often forspoilage.
• See our article on making jams and jellieswith fruit from yourgarden.

Catherine Boeckmann