We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape. Our neighbors told us that she
remembered that the vines did yield grapes in past years.

It isn't as though we get grapes & birds/animals eat them, or we lose
them to some disease, we don't even see any baby grapes!

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions why this is happening and what
I should do to get a grape or two?

I'm not an expert here, but you might have to prune the vines this fall and
wait for grapes next season.

Although, there are some grapevines in the woods near where I grew up.
They were planted there by a barn years ago. The barn foundation is all
that is left and there are trees growing in it. I'm guessing the barn has
been gone for 50 yrs. Now the grapevines are spread through-out all the
treetops and all over the ground, and there are still huge clusters of (I
think Concords) all over. These grapevines haven't been tended in at least
26 yrs that I know of.

So you might also be having bad season, maybe they will come back next year
on their own.

--
Rob Smith, NY
www.allwoodwork.com
Woodworking, Home, & Garden Community




"montana" wrote in message
...
We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape. Our neighbors told us that she
remembered that the vines did yield grapes in past years.

It isn't as though we get grapes & birds/animals eat them, or we lose
them to some disease, we don't even see any baby grapes!

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions why this is happening and what
I should do to get a grape or two?

In article ,
"Rob Smith" rfsmith@-remove this before sending-alltel.net wrote:

I'm not an expert here, but you might have to prune the vines this fall and
wait for grapes next season.

Although, there are some grapevines in the woods near where I grew up.
They were planted there by a barn years ago. The barn foundation is all
that is left and there are trees growing in it. I'm guessing the barn has
been gone for 50 yrs. Now the grapevines are spread through-out all the
treetops and all over the ground, and there are still huge clusters of (I
think Concords) all over. These grapevines haven't been tended in at least
26 yrs that I know of.

So you might also be having bad season, maybe they will come back next year
on their own.

--
Rob Smith, NY
www.allwoodwork.com
Woodworking, Home, & Garden Community



I have both cut the vines at the end of the season & also left them
alone. One year we had a lot of rain during the growing season, but two
other seasons have been dry.

I have no idea what variety they are, but they do make a wonderful
privacy screen, grapes or no grapes!

Don't know where you are, but grapes are very susceptible to fungus. A
friend of mine who happens to be an expert on grapes told me that I had to
spray mine at least once a year with a fungicide called Captain (Cap-tain).
You might try doing that after the leaves are on, but before blossoms come
out. If that doesn't solve your problem, next year spray a second time on
the last safe date before harvest time.

Dwayne


"montana" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Rob Smith" rfsmith@-remove this before sending-alltel.net wrote:

I'm not an expert here, but you might have to prune the vines this fall
and
wait for grapes next season.

Although, there are some grapevines in the woods near where I grew up.
They were planted there by a barn years ago. The barn foundation is all
that is left and there are trees growing in it. I'm guessing the barn
has
been gone for 50 yrs. Now the grapevines are spread through-out all the
treetops and all over the ground, and there are still huge clusters of
(I
think Concords) all over. These grapevines haven't been tended in at
least
26 yrs that I know of.

So you might also be having bad season, maybe they will come back next
year
on their own.

--
Rob Smith, NY
www.allwoodwork.com
Woodworking, Home, & Garden Community



I have both cut the vines at the end of the season & also left them
alone. One year we had a lot of rain during the growing season, but two
other seasons have been dry.

I have no idea what variety they are, but they do make a wonderful
privacy screen, grapes or no grapes!

In article ,
"Dwayne" wrote:

Don't know where you are, but grapes are very susceptible to fungus. A
friend of mine who happens to be an expert on grapes told me that I had to
spray mine at least once a year with a fungicide called Captain (Cap-tain).
You might try doing that after the leaves are on, but before blossoms come
out. If that doesn't solve your problem, next year spray a second time on
the last safe date before harvest time.

Dwayne

snip

Thanks, that's a good idea. That could be the problem. I haven't sprayed
as soon as the leaves come out (and they sure are slow this year)
because we've been eating stuffed grape leaves and I'm always concerned
that the sprays won't wash off.

Maybe we'll give up eating the leaves & spray.

We're in Zone 5. My MIL said we'd have to spray, but she thought it was
when the blossoms come out.

In article ,
Gary Woods wrote:

montana wrote:

We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape

Don't forget that grapes bear on the previous year's new growth only! You
can look up the various pruning strategies, but the basic idea is to,
during late winter, remove all the old growth and leave a measured number
of buds worth of the new growth.... the exact amount depends on the vine's
vigor. If the vine hasn't been pruned in a long time and you cut it back
the way you should, you probably won't get any grapes that year, because
all the new growth will be out on the ends of the old.

But it's worth it.


If I understand you correctly, I should prune some of the old growth,
but not all, so the grape vines are not wild, but have just a couple of
shoots?

My DH just told me that he sees grape vines that have three "shoots" per
plant - not that he's mentioned this in three years or anything...

It's too late for one of the grape plants (I pruned it back over the
winter), but I can still try that with the other. I forgot that I have
also seen this.

Thanks. This and the spraying may mean fresh grapes sometime.

montana writes:
We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape. Our neighbors told us that she
remembered that the vines did yield grapes in past years.

You don't say whether the vines produce their tiny bunches of flowers?
I imagine that grape flowers need to be pollinated by bees, so how
are you off for bees? Perhaps the local bees have been killed off by
pesticides, or land clearing? Did you have a lot of wet weather at
the time the grapes were in bloom? Wet weather might have kept the
bees at home, or might have caused fungal disease in the flowers.
I have seen grape vines growing 25' up through tall trees, dropping
grapes all over the footpath despite never getting pruned, so I'm quite
sure that pruning is not necessary for fruiting.
--
John Savage (news reply email invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

In article ,
John Savage wrote:

montana writes:
We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape. Our neighbors told us that she
remembered that the vines did yield grapes in past years.

You don't say whether the vines produce their tiny bunches of flowers?
I imagine that grape flowers need to be pollinated by bees, so how
are you off for bees? Perhaps the local bees have been killed off by
pesticides, or land clearing? Did you have a lot of wet weather at
the time the grapes were in bloom? Wet weather might have kept the
bees at home, or might have caused fungal disease in the flowers.
I have seen grape vines growing 25' up through tall trees, dropping
grapes all over the footpath despite never getting pruned, so I'm quite
sure that pruning is not necessary for fruiting.

We aren't seeing any flowers (that I'm aware of). We have enough bees,
thankfully.

Hi All,
I remember reading some where that vines should only be pruned in the
dormant season, when the sap is not rising, other wise the vine will bleed
and possibly die. hope tis is of some help to you.

Richard M. Watkin.

John Savage wrote in message
om...
montana writes:
We moved into a house (three years ago, May) that has some grape plants
and while we get great vines and the young leaves are tender & delicious
when stuffed, we haven't seen one grape. Our neighbors told us that she
remembered that the vines did yield grapes in past years.

You don't say whether the vines produce their tiny bunches of flowers?
I imagine that grape flowers need to be pollinated by bees, so how
are you off for bees? Perhaps the local bees have been killed off by
pesticides, or land clearing? Did you have a lot of wet weather at
the time the grapes were in bloom? Wet weather might have kept the
bees at home, or might have caused fungal disease in the flowers.
I have seen grape vines growing 25' up through tall trees, dropping
grapes all over the footpath despite never getting pruned, so I'm quite
sure that pruning is not necessary for fruiting.
--
John Savage (news reply email invalid; keep news replies in
newsgroup)

"rmw" wrote in message
...
Hi All,
I remember reading some where that vines should only be pruned in the
dormant season, when the sap is not rising, other wise the vine will bleed
and possibly die. hope tis is of some help to you.

Richard M. Watkin.

I'm sure this is true. I had to cut down a big strip of shrubs near the
house this spring - a tangled mess of various kinds of saplings, azaleas,
Japanese honeysuckle and muscadines. Watery sap just *poured* out of the
muscadine vines. Being huge, they appear to have survived their unseasonal
pruning.

Kathleen