"David E. Ross" wrote in message
...
On 5/13/12 5:24 PM, Ohioguy wrote:
I found a Concord seedless grape at the local Lowe's, which fit in to
my late grape harvest. I was still looking for a red and white variety,
hopefully mid and early to help spread around the fresh eating grape
availability.

I ended up going with Reliance (red) and Lakemont (white). Concord
supposedly has 115 days to harvest, Lakemont 80 days, and Reliance is
supposed to be a mid season, but don't know exactly how many days.

Anyone have any experience with these, or have any suggestions? I'm
growing grapes for the first time, after having a failure of the entire
row of blueberries I planted. This is the second time I've had
blueberries completely fail, despite using soil acidifiers. I'm never
trying them again unless I do a midget variety in a wooden planter or
pot.

I've talked to a number of folks who seem to have a grape harvest
every year, and some of them say they haven't done anything other than
prune them back once in a while.

I have three grape vines on my hill: 'Perlette', 'Black Monukka', and
'Flame'. The support system I use is described at my
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_grapes.html. My hill is described
at http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_back.html#hill.

I find that grapes require some care beyond pruning. As the vines grow
during the spring and summer, they need to be either pinched back or
tied to their supports. They require regular DEEP watering; during our
long rainless summers, they are watered only every third weekend but
thoroughly at that time. They do not require much fertilizer; they get
fed with the rest of my hill once in the early spring with a house-brand
of lawn food (no insecticide or herbicide).

Once birds, squirrels, raccoons, or other life discover the grapes, care
becomes more complicated. For birds, I tie unwanted compact discs to
the supports and vines. For squirrels, I use a cage trap and then
release them about 5 miles away in a park that has coyotes, hawks,
snakes, and owls. My supports should now be high enough to keep the
grapes beyond the reach of raccoons; if not, I will buy a larger cage
trap.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

David, nothing is out of the reach of a raccoon. My sister-in-law has a
guest house on her property that the coons have been trying to claim for
years. Last year I had to add metal eave vents and cut several trees near
the roof edge to prevent them nesting in the attic. This year they have
learned to climb the downspout onto the roof. They were then determined
enough to rip out the metal vents. I'm afraid they'll rip the roof off if I
put expanded metal over the vents. Execution may be in their future!
Steve