How To: Have A Grape Arbor

I pretty much take grapes in the backyard for granted - they were always just there in the yard when I was growing up. And, when I built my current home, I was lucky enough that the land had some established vines in place. (I did have to re-do the arbor they were on.) And, so you don't think that you can only have vines in the south or the west - I'm in the Lake Erie area - we get cold, really cold. And the grapes winter over just fine. In general a frost free period of 165-180 days is required to mature grape fruit and wood. The period must be long enough to allow harvest of the fruit and time for the wood to acclimate for the winter. The length of the growing season is not as important as the "Growing Degree Days" (GDD) in determining cultivar adaptability, as some areas with long seasons are not warm enough to mature grapes well. (Find more information on GDD on Wunderground.com.) Wine growing regions are divided into five zones based solely on their GDD accumulations:

Check out this guide from Gardening Guides.com for a good resource for home growing.

Grapes are vigorous growers and you should prune 80-90 percent of the new wood. You should only prune when the vines are dormant, preferably a short time before the sap begins to circulate in the spring. In my area, I find the best time to be in February usually. The timing of this also allows you to remove any stems that may have been damaged by winter.

Remember when pruning that next year's grapes come from last year's wood. This will actually make sense when you are out there with your pruning shears and looking at the stems and the differences in the wood of your grapes. Start at the tip of a vine, follow it back to the older wood with the coarse bark from last year, then back up about four or five buds along the vine and make your cut there. Don't worry that you are pruning away too much, the cutting leads to stronger vines.

Lastly, your pruning shouldn't be confined to your winter maintenance: Check your vines through the summer season as well. Once the fruit is on, you should trim new growth, and remove leaves from around the growing fruit so it gets plenty of sunlight.

Now that you've done all that pruning, all you have to do is enjoy. But, remember that your grapes will change color well before they are actually ripe. Grapes do not continue to ripen after they are picked, so you do not want to harvest too soon. The only way I know to be sure if they are ready is to eat a couple off of a cluster. If they're not ready, you'll know it right away.

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