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Reviewed May 1995

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Contents

• Landscaping with grapes
• Choice of cultivars
• Planting time
• Selecting plants
• Planting tips
• Cultivation
• Fertilizer
• Insects and diseases
• Harvesting and fruit maturity

Related publications

• G6010, Fruit Spray Schedules for the Homeowner
• G6090, Home Fruit Production: Grape Training Systems
• G6960, Mulches
• MP599, Grapes From Harvest to Health

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Home Fruit Production: Grape Culture

Michele Warmund
Department of Horticulture

Grapes are sturdy plants. They stubbornly withstand drought and can succeed even in rocky, infertile soils. Given reasonable care, grape vines remain productive for 20 to 30 years.

Landscaping with grapes

For the best use, train grapes along an existing border fence or on a special trellis. This serves to set off property boundaries, add privacy, screen undesirable views or add landscape interest.

Using an arbor for support may have greater ornamental value, but it makes cultural operations more difficult.

Give grapes full sun. Grapes tolerate a wide range of soils, but good water drainage is essential. A site exposed to full sun is best.

The type of landscape use, amount of leisure time available, and desire for fruit are considerations in determining the number of plants you need to plant. Weeding, pruning, tying and spraying are necessary cultural operations. In most instances, six to 12 grape plants are enough. Each mature plant should produce about 10 to 12 pounds of fruit.

Choice of cultivars

Because nurseries offer a number of cultivars, you have a choice of fruit colors, flavors, ripening times and culinary uses. Choose disease-resistant cultivars when possible. Table 1 lists a number of cultivars worthy of consideration.

Planting time

Plant in late winter or early spring as soon as soil can be worked. Early-set plants are more able to withstand summer weather extremes. From late February in southern Missouri to mid-April in northern Missouri are preferred planting times.

Special soil preparation may not be necessary. Deep spading or tilling may be required if the area is heavily sodded or compacted or if it needs corrective fertilizer treatments. Make these preparations in fall for earlier spring planting. A soil test will indicate whether a nutrient deficiency exists. Soil samples may be submitted to your county MU Extension center, which can recommend corrective treatments.

Selecting plants

Vigorous year-old plants are best. Nurseries list these as One Year - number 1s.

Two-year-old plants are more expensive and generally don't grow any better than one-year-old plants.

Purchase plants from a reputable nursery that guarantees high-quality plants that are true to name and are disease free.

Table 1
Characteristics of grape cultivars

White table grapes¹

Red or blue table grapes¹

White wine grapes¹

Red or blue wine grapes¹

¹Table (fresh, jelly, juice) or wine refers to their primary use. Many of these cultivars have multiple uses.

Planting tips

With most cultivars trained to a cordon system, 8 feet between plants is desirable.

Inspect the roots and cut off broken or damaged portions. Also shorten excessively long roots.

Dig the planting holes large enough to accommodate the roots placed in their natural position. Set the plants at about the same depth as they grew at the nursery. Cover the roots with topsoil and pack to eliminate pockets of air and to ensure good root-soil contact. Some additional tamping should be done as the hole is filled. Leave a shallow basin around the plant and fill it with water. This will settle the soil around the roots as well as supply needed moisture. Later fill the hole until it is level with the surrounding soil.

No fertilizer is necessary at planting. Fertilizer placed in the hole may be injurious to the plant.

Cultivation

Grapes respond well to shallow cultivation. The best production is likely to be attained if a weed-free area at least 4 feet wide is maintained under the trellis. Mulches of various kinds can be used to create a more desirable landscape effect. Avoid most rich, organic mulches because they may release nitrogen too long into the season and contribute to uneven ripening, overvigorous canes and poor winter hardiness.

Fertilizer

Moderate amounts of fertilizer promote growth of young plants and maintain vigor of bearing plants. No single fertilizer program is ideally suited to all situations because of wide variations among soils and other factors. A soil test should be taken to plan a program best suited for the particular soil.

A complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 12-12-12 can be used in a grape fertilization program (Table 2). Spread the fertilizer in a circular band 12 to 18 inches away from the base of the plants. This distance should be increased to about 2 or 3 feet as plants reach mature size. Mix the fertilizer about 2 inches deep into the soil to enable roots to obtain nutrients more readily and reduce loss by runoff during heavy rains.

Observation and judgment should also guide the amount of fertilizer used for grapes. Maintain plants moderately vigorous and productive. Avoid excessive or weak growth.

Fruiting canes should be 1/4 to 3/8 inch in diameter (slightly larger than a pencil) and 4 to 6 feet long. Vary the fertilizer rate in accordance with the growth observed.

Table 2
Fertilization program for grapes

Insects and diseases

Several pests commonly damage grapes. Some form of pest management is necessary to consistently grow good-quality fruit.

The grape berry moth is a common pest. The small greenish larvae feed in the berries. Small, wedge-shaped jumping insects, called leafhoppers, feed on grape foliage. Severe damage restricts growth and interferes with fruit ripening. Mealybugs and flea beetles also can cause injury.

A fungus disease, called black rot, is widely prevalent and often damaging. The disease first attacks the foliage and later spreads to the fruit. Infected berries soon become blackened, shriveled and worthless. Other fungus diseases are downy and powdery mildews.

Fungal diseases usually thrive in dense foliage that does not dry quickly, necessitating chemical control of the diseases. Appropriate pruning and training that encourages light penetration and air movement will help eliminate or decrease the severity of these diseases.

Crown gall, a bacterial disease, often occurs following an extremely cold winter. Galls or fleshy tumors appear on the lower trunk of injured vines. Infected canes should be pruned at the soil surface. New shoots originating from the base of the plant can be selected and trained to replace infected canes.

Harvesting and fruit maturity

Color is not the only indicator of maturity in bunch grapes. When grapes are ripe, grape seeds change from green to brown, the cluster stem turns brownish and slightly wrinkled, and the berries attain maximum sweetness.

Grapes must be closely watched near harvest. Some cultivars rarely reach the peak of ripeness or sweetness because they shatter from the bunch before fully ripe. Excessive rains during harvest may cause splitting of skins. Birds may find the ripening grapes first.

Grapes do not require direct sunlight on the berries for color development. Color development is governed by the amount of sugars produced by the leaves and translocated to the fruit. The leaves do need sunlight to produce the sugars.

To prevent bird damage, reduce excessive weather damage and, in general, have higher quality fruit, bag the clusters when they are about half grown. Use brown kraft bags of suitable size and tie securely to the grape cane. The amount of bagging done will depend on how much time and effort are available. Where bagging is not practical and bird damage is likely, netting can be used to cover the vines as ripening approaches.

G6085, reviewed May 1999