Jymesion wrote:

In April of this year, I noticed some grape vines in the bargain bin
at the grocery store. Just out of curiosity, I looked at them, and
found one which had two buds which were closed but firm (neither dried
out nor rotting), so I gambled $1.95 on it.

The variety is Niagara. It was from one of those mass-market
nurseries.

I washed off the 'soil' it came in and let it sit in water overnight.
Next day, the buds had opened, and I planted it in the worst possible
place, a corner which gets no sun and the soil is building rubble in
clay.

My only thought was to have "something" in that corner. I figured if
it ever grew to 5 feet tall, it'd get some light (narrow porch has
windows on both sides). And if it didn't grow, well, it was only 2
bucks.

It sat for about a week, doing nothing, and I thought I'd wasted my
effort digging a hole for it.

Then it took off.

By July 1st, it was up to the windows.

I'd run strings from the sill down to the ground for it to climb, so I
put a trellis over the window for its further growth.

Now, each stem goes 5 feet up to the window, 2 feet horizontally
across, a foot up, 2 feet across, a foot up, and they're beginning
their third pass across.

From what I've read about growing/training grapes, you're to trim it
back at planting to only one stem and then hope it reaches a 36-inch
high wire the first year.

This has two stems, each about 12 feet long, with no sign of slowing
down!

I didn't have a distinct plan in place because I didn't expect it to
survive, and I've just been puttering, pinching off side shoots as I
tie it to the trellis to train it to go back and forth across the
window.

I know I'll never get grapes off it (besides lack of light and lousy
soil, the squirrels pass over it on their way to the feeder). I only
want something reasonably attractive.

I'm almost afraid to prune off the tips because if it sends out side
shoots, the way it's growing, it'll probably engulf the house!

I've looked at more than a hundred sites, and I haven't found a thing
about how to train grapes to a trellis purely for decoration, and
there's nothing, anywhere, about one which is growing like Little
Audrey!

At this point, I don't even know what I don't know, so I'm not sure
what to ask!

One thing I do need to know -- is it safe to just keep weaving it back
and forth across the trellis, or will that leave me with nothing but
bare trunks next year?

Any help appreciated!

There's tons of info about growing grapes on the net, TONS.

At my last house I planted two concord grape vines as a privacy
screen, worked out very well and got lots of grapes too, produced the
2nd year... bought from Lowe's end of season sale rack.
Vines in early spring, heavily pruned the previous fall:
http://i44.tinypic.com/23robow.jpg
Just budding out... that tree is a dwarf sour cherry, very prolific:
http://i40.tinypic.com/1ooimr.jpg
When fully leafed out coverage is superb, total privacy:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2yxmz9y.jpg
Each growing season grapes must be pruned back to first tiny grape
cluster, remove approximately 30% of vine by weight (guesstimate), or
vine will use its energy to produce more vine rather than great
grapes. Proper pruning is the most important aspect of grape growing,
most folks ignore pruning and end up with a slovenly mess of leggy
vines and a few measly grapes.

On Thu, 08 Aug 2013 16:04:34 -0400, Brooklyn1
wrote:

There's tons of info about growing grapes on the net, TONS.

I've found lots. The problem is that none of it applies to my
situation, or at least, I don't see how it applies because mine has to
grow tall and narrow and my main need is for dense foliage. A crop of
grapes isn't going to happen (too little light, too many squirrels).

I particularly haven't found anything about how to handle it when it's
growing so fast.

When fully leafed out coverage is superb, total privacy:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2yxmz9y.jpg

Looks fantastic! You did a great job on it!

Jymesion wrote:
On Thu, 08 Aug 2013 16:04:34 -0400, Brooklyn1
wrote:

There's tons of info about growing grapes on the net, TONS.

I've found lots. The problem is that none of it applies to my
situation, or at least, I don't see how it applies because mine has to
grow tall and narrow and my main need is for dense foliage. A crop of
grapes isn't going to happen (too little light, too many squirrels).

Squirrels must be particular. I've never see signs of squirrel damage on the
interlakens in my yard.

Pinching off new branches is certainly going to promote growth of the main stem.

On Fri, 9 Aug 2013 08:22:26 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

Jymesion wrote:
A crop of
grapes isn't going to happen (too little light, too many squirrels).

Squirrels must be particular. I've never see signs of squirrel damage on the
interlakens in my yard.

It may be a factor of water supply. I've seen squirrels ignore
tomatoes when there's plenty of fresh water and ravage them when
there's a drought.