Producing grapes?

I would like to plant a grape vine. I live in NC and would like to know what a good variety would be to plant for eating and making jelly and juice. Also would like to know how long it takes before you start getting the fruit and what a good variety would be. Would like to have the seedless grapes. Interested in planting berry bushes for eating, like blackberry blueberry too. Need to know what time of year I need to plant

Sami

Sami

I can help you with the Blackberries. Plant them in the early Spring. There are the thorny and thornless kind. They all take a lot of room. The thornless tend to sprawl out more than the more erect thorny kind.
Maybe 12 years ago I bought 3 plants each of 2 varieties. Illini (thorny), and Chester Thornfree. The 6 plants have been allowed to grow to 12. The cultivars don't spread like the wild ones do. Just be sure you weed out the little seedlings each spring. Keep only vegetative offsprings.
Have fun with them, they will take a couple of seasons to really start producing for you.
Andy P

In your zone, spring planting of grapes will be best. But before they break dormancy. The easiest to grow are the foxgrape types, like Concord which is available in seedless form. For a different color try Canadice. I only grow the seeded forms, Concord , Niagra, Steuben, Catawba , Fredonia,,,,,

FarmerDill, Are you familiar with Reliance grape. I planted one vine 18 months ago and it seems to be doing fine, except the leaves are not as green as I expected and it produced 6 bunches of pea sized grapes this year. I think it's too young to fruiting.
Andy P

Thanks Famerdill and Sarahskeeper I will just have to wait until spring . Famerdill do you think the seeded grapes are better then the seedless ones. I always buy the seedless ones in the stores, just hate to fight the seeds.

Sami

Sarah, I have not grown it but Reliance is touted as an improved Canadice. According to Ohio State the best tasting red grape. http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1423.html
http://ohioline.osu.edu/rc299/rc299_10.html It is not a large grape. Normal fruiting for grapes is three years, but that can vary with environmental condituions.

And yes, Sami, I prefer the seeded types. But I am an old man "sot" in his ways.

dill

Thanks Dill, I'll take pics next season of the Reliance. Is that what is pictured above? Looks like it.
Sami, It's too soon for me to recommend Reliance but it is touted as being able to grow well in adverse conditions, zones 5 - 8. Mine is planted in what used to be a sand and gravel pit, like everything else in the neighborhood. My apple is happy but the Seckel pear is not.
Andy P

Ok thanks both of you. I will keep that in mind. I am already anxious to get out and start planting winter hasn't even hardly started yet. At least so far we haven"t had any bad weather yet.

Sami

I plan on planting 14 grapes along my back chain link fence which is about 4ft. high and will add a 2ft. pvc pipe and wire to it for them ( I read how to do this somewhere) All the local Home Depot have right now are bare root, four different kinds; Thompson,Perlette,Flame and Ruby. Are bare root the best way to go given my area or should I wait for container plants? I am VERY new to gardening so you must explain in detail for me. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks Robin

Robin, Farmer dill will be more experienced than I, but, I like the 'bare root'.
I'm not sure about retail 'big box' store stock though. How long has that plant been on the shelf?
I mail order them. Everything from roses to fruit trees. My grape was from Miller Nurseries. You usually have a wider choice from catalogs and can take your time deciding, too. They ship at the proper planting time so be ready. They also provide planting and cultural info.
Andy P

I also like bare root plants. but those are western cultivars, with which I am not familiar. I have had no problems with mail order, when obtained from a reputable nursery. Be careful in ordering from a seed catalog as those plants are normally drop shipped and there is little control by the contracting company. Direct from the nursery, whether local or mail order is highly reccommended.

Sami - as Farmerdill suggested, Concords would be a good variety to try.

When we bought our place 10 years ago, there was a small stand of Concords the owners had planted, & even tho now somewhat overgrown with wild raspberries (yet something else on the "to do" list - sigh), they still produce. My parents back on Long Island, NY, also grew them for many, many years.

Neither one of us ever had to spray for pests, etc. Concords seem to be pretty pest/disease-free. The only problem we've had has been with birds, yellow jackets, & European Hornets, which adore grapes once they start to ripen.

As far as use, Concords make great juice & jelly, & my mom used to make a pie out of them as well.

Thank you all for the help. I am going to google Miller Nursery and see if I can order now.. I live near the river and we sometimes get a lot of bees. I dont dare put my hummingbird feeders out until after they have been out scouting and then I have them on a window that is hidden from the bees by my porch or they will be all over here. My brother is allergic to them and lives near me. Hope they wont cause much trouble but my neighbor had grapes of some kind when I first moved here and I never noticed a problem then. I am sure I will be needing help as I go along so thank you and I will be in touch again soon.

Robin, Miller vends eastern type grapes. You may want to look at local nurseries, contact your state agricultural extension service, and look at California nurseries. The ones you mentioned are California grapes. Eastern foxgrapes are native to the east with relatively high humidity.

Farmerdill thank you. Our local extension service is very near me so I will contact them and find out the best place to get what I want. Will keep you posted, You have all been so very helpfull and I really do thank you

Farmerdill is right. My Dad tried seedless and white grapes. It was a long wait for nothing. I've only grown Concord, since I'm in zone 5a. We usually get bee stings and bird pecks, but plant plenty for all. I have 3 plants and am putting in 2 more Concords in this spring.

Farmerdill, My Dad had grapes when he bought the house in 1958. Concords. One vine, and it's still about the same size as when I was little, has HUGE grapes. The middle vine is a normal Concord size, and on the end, were wine grapes that slowly, over the years became edible. What are the huge purple ones? They taste like the Concords.

I'm bumping this in case someone knows the answer to my question.

"Grapes are grown throughout NC. Bunch grapes (Vitis vinifera, V. labrusca and French-American hybrids) are produced in the Piedmont and Mountains but do not survive in the Coastal Plain due to Pierce’s disease. Muscadine cultivars (V. rotundifolia) are resistant to Pierce’s disease and are grown in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Muscadines are susceptible to winter injury and for this reason are not grown commercially in the western Piedmont and Mountains."
http://pestdata.ncsu.edu/cropprofiles/docs/ncgrapes.html
Personally, I'd grow muscadines, if I could - much less disease/pest problems than you'll encounter with bunch grapes.

I've grown several thornless and thorny cultivated blackberry varieties, and the best I've come across yet is Kiowa - a semi-erect thorny(and I mean THORNY) variety. Heavy producer of HUGE berries with good flavor, when they're fully ripe. I've yet to encounter a thornless variety with good flavor(but, maybe I've just not hit on the correct one), and those I've grown have been nowhere nearly so productive as Kiowa.
I've been pleased with plants I got from Simmons Berry Farm, in AR.

You should be able to grow northern highbush, southern highbush, and probably rabbiteye type blueberries in z6 NC - and I'd be inclined to put in some of each to spread the harvest season. Dan Finch Blueberries (in NC, if I recall correctly) is one of the best places to get 'em.

I wish we could grow the Muscadines here. Dad's first vine are large like them, but almost has to be a Concord. Some people do grow blueberries around here. I'd like to, but would need to surround them with a screen fence or I wouldn't get any!

I grow Muscadines because I don't think anything else will grow where I am. To much heat, humidity, fungus. As far as the Muscadines I simply grew them from seed of grapes I was eating. LOL. I dried the seeds for a few months and planted them inside durning Dec.March hit and outside they went. I just let them grow for the first two years and year three I pruned them up. Have gotten grapes every year since. More and bigger every year so far. You need to know how to prune grape vines BTW.

Wow, those are nice looking! I've heard grapes will come true from seed, but haven't tried it. We prune in early winter or early spring.

My 3 year old 'Reliance' vine is giving me 3 clusters this season. From a cutting.
I snapped this pic 2 days ago, the are not quite ready.
Andy P

YUM!

My favorite way to eat grapes is to stand at the vine till I'm full! Some things from childhood never change!