Growing Grapes

Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Grapes

By The Editors
Green Grapes
Pixabay

Share: 

Rate this Article: 

Average: 3.6 (743 votes)

Grape growing is experiencing a renewed popularity in home gardens! And why not? Not only are grapes wonderful for eating, juicing, and winemaking, but they are also a beautiful ornamental plant. Learn how to grow, prune, and harvest your grapes.

Grape vines not only produce sweet and versatile fruits, they add an element of drama to a garden or landscape. They are vigorous growers, and with the proper pruning, they will produce fruit with ease within a few years and last for 30 years or more!

For home gardeners, there are three main types of grapes to consider: American (Vitis labrusca), European (V. vinifera), and French-American hybrids. American grapes are the most cold-hardy, while European grapes—usually better for wine than the table—do well in warm, dry, Mediterranean-type zones. Hybrids tend to be both cold-hardy and disease-resistant, but are not as flavorful as European grapes. Another type that is grown in the U.S. is the Muscadine (V. rotundifolia), which is native to the southern United States. The Muscadine grape’s thick skin make it best suited for use in jams, wine, or other processed grape products.

Make sure you purchase grape vines from a reputable nursery. Vigorous, 1-year-old plants are best. Smaller, sometimes weaker, 1-year-old plants are often held over by the nursery to grow another year and are then sold as 2-year-old stock. Obtain certified virus-free stock when possible.

Eager to get started? We have plenty of tips for growing grapes in your backyard!

Planting

  • Plant dormant, bare-root grape vines in the early spring.
  • Most grape varieties are self-fertile. To be sure, ask when you are buying vines if you will need more than one plant for pollination.
  • Select a site with full sun. If you don’t have a spot with full sun, make sure it at least gets morning sun. A small amount of afternoon shade won’t hurt. Your soil needs to be deep, well-drained, and loose. You also need good air circulation.

    • Grape vines will need to be trained to some sort of support to grow upward. This will also cut the risk of disease. The support needs to be in place at planting.

      • One option is a sturdy trellis or arbor. The arbor may have two, four or six posts, depending on whether it’s attached to the house or another structure. The top can be secured with 2-inch by 4-inch wooden slats that hold the arbor together and topped with 1-inch by 2-inch wood pieces to create the lattice work for the vines to grow on. You may also need corner braces to secure the whole structure. Grow the grapes, one per post, selecting the strongest cane. Allow it to grow to the top of the post the first year, securing it to the post as it grows. 
      • If you are low on free space, try growing grapes on a stake. Pound in a sturdy stake next to the grape vine and securely attach it. Keep the vine growing vertically. Let the vine grow to the top of the stake the first year then top it. Allow 4 to 5 side canes to grow. Remove all the rest.
    • Before planting grapevines, soak their roots in water for two or three hours.
    • Space vines 6 to 10 feet apart (16 feet for muscadines).
    • For each vine, dig a planting hole 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide. Fill with 4 inches of topsoil. Trim off broken roots and set the vine into the hole slightly deeper than it grew in the nursery. Cover the roots with 6 inches of soil and tamp down. Fill with the remaining soil, but don’t tamp this down.
    • Water at time of planting.

    Care

    • Do not fertilize in the first year unless you have problem soil. Fertilize lightly in the second year of growth.
    • Use mulch to keep an even amount of moisture around the vines.
    • A mesh net is useful in keeping birds away from budding fruit.

    Pruning Grapes

    Pruning is very important. Grapes produce fruit on shoots growing off of one-year-old canes. If you have too many old canes (from no pruning), then you’ll get fewer grapes. If you prune back your vines completely each year, then you get lots of new growth, but again, few grapes.

    Pruning is done in late winter when the plant is dormant, usually around March. But for the first year or so, the goal is to create a strong root system and trunk. Plant in spring and prune back the grape vine to three buds. Then wait until the first winter.

    • If you are growing grapes on an arbor or trellis: Grow the grapes, one per post, selecting the strongest cane. Allow it to grow to the top of the post the first year, securing it to the post as it grows. The first winter top the cane and allow it to grow side branches along the top of the arbor. If you let the vines just continue to grow, they will produce dense shade, but little fruit. Prune the grapes each winter by removing those canes that fruited the previous year, cutting back one-year-old canes to five to six buds, and leaving some renewal canes pruned back to two to three buds. The goal is to have canes on the trellis spaced 2 to 3 feet apart. Remove any weak, thin canes. You want to leave enough fruiting canes on the trellis to fill it back in each summer, but not so many that is becomes a tangled mess.
    • If you are growing grapes on a stake, cut back the side canes in the first winter to three buds on each. These will send out shoots that will produce grapes the next year. Remove all weak and spindly growth, especially along the lower parts of the trunk. The second winter, prune back the healthiest canes to six to ten buds, select two canes as renewal spurs and prune those back to three buds on each and remove all other canes. Repeat this pruning each winter. Your trunk should be able to support four to seven fruiting canes each year as it gets older.

    Pests/Diseases

    Spacing for Grapes

    Harvest/Storage

    • If grapes aren’t ripening, pinch back some of the foliage to let in more sunlight.
    • Grapes will not continue ripening once picked from the vine. Test a few to see if they are to your liking before harvesting, usually in late summer or early fall.
    • Grapes are ripe and ready to harvest when they are rich in color, juicy, full-flavored, easily crushed but not shriveled, and plump. They should be tightly attached to the stems. Sample different grapes from different clusters, and the taste should be between sweet and tart. Check our ripeness guide for more tips on color.
    • Grapes can be stored for up to six weeks in the cellar, but grapes can absorb the odors of other fruits and vegetables, so keep them separate. Use cardboard boxes or crates lined with clean, dry straw. Separate bunches with straw or sawdust. Check often for spoilage.
    • See our article on making jams and jellies with fruit from your garden.

    Recommended Varieties

    Note: Seedless varieties will produce smaller grapes.

    • ‘Edelweiss’: Hardy in zones 4–7 (–20°F), early white variety. Table and wine.
    • ‘Reliance’: Hardy in zones 4–8, seedless, pink table grape.
    • ‘Seibel’: Hybrid, wine grape. Cold hardy.
    • ‘Swenson Red’: Hardy in zones 4–8, red table grape.
    • ‘Magnolia’: White Muscadine wine grape. Sweet. Best in zones 7–9.
    • ‘Valiant’: Eating grape hardy to Zone 2.

    Wit & Wisdom

    Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) resemble grapes only in that they grow in clusters, but that was sufficient reason for early European explorers in Barbados to bestow this name on them.

    Recipes

    720x480-gardening.jpg

    What do you want to read next?

    Reader Comments

    Leave a Comment

    Grapevine roots

    Submitted by Graham T on

    Hi. I live in Durban South Africa and my grapevine of some 10 years plus was accidentally cut down at the point where the vine and roots meet. The roots still look good and firm, and alive but no new shoot has come up...what can I do to ensure it survives? Thanks

    Grape Roots

    The Editors's picture

    Submitted by The Editors on

    The roots should produce a new shoot with time. Just keep the plant cared for as normal, but do not fertilize. The only thing that could cause a problem is if your grape plant was a variety that had been grafted onto a rootstock. In that case, the new shoot that stems from the roots may not be the same as the grape variety you had been growing previously. If the vine was cut above the graft, then as long as the new shoot also comes from above the graft, you will end up with the same variety.

    Preserving green grape juice

    Submitted by Hilda Nikal on

    Seeking a recipe to can green grape juice?

    new grape grower...

    Submitted by patty on

    Hello, I was just given a beautiful seedless white grape plant (Alpenglow)for Mother's Day. It's very healthy and already has a couple of lateral vines coming from the main plant-one is already almost 2 feet long! I live in Northern Maine and have an open yard with a nice Southern exposure all day with loamy soil. Do I cut off these lateral vines? Keep the best one and train it on the support? I really don't want to kill this plant!

    growing grapes

    You don’t want the plant to produce fruit in the first couple of years. It needs to strengthen its root system before it can support the extra weight of fruit. So just keep the plant healthy at this time, no need to trim anything.

    new grape grower...

    Submitted by patty on

    Thank you! We are building a nice trellis for it and have found a good open spot on the yard where it will get all day sun. :)

    Grape

    Submitted by rita gale crecy on

    I planted some grape last year . And I was wondering the string growing around fence . Do I need to pull them off .

    Flowering grape in October .

    Submitted by Audrey on

    I am growing my first grapevine in tropical Jamaica . The vine is healthy and beautiful and I am delighted . A few days ago I notice flowers . This is October Is this normal ?

    grapes

    Submitted by nielle on

    This has a lot of cool info and all real facts.

    After pruning what are the fertilisers & medicines to be applied

    Submitted by SRINATH.M.B. on

    What care should be taken after pruning is done.
    Our plants are one year old.

    Grapes falling off

    Submitted by Steve Britt on

    My grapes are falling off of the vine. They are firm and don't show any sighs of pest or disease, yet they are falling off... Could it be not enough water?

    growing grapes

    Submitted by Tommy coiner on

    I haven't printed my grape vines last year,is it too late in the summer or can I go ahead and do it?!!!

    New Grape Plants

    Submitted by Becky on

    I just planted grapes about 3 weeks ago for the first time. We got to them late. The plants I got are only a few inches high and were dormant when we received them. One of them has gotten buds on it and I have been keeping up with them as they come. The others just look like little sticks and don't seem to be doing much. Since I'm new to this, I'm not sure if this is normal, if it's because we planted late in the season or what. We water every couple of days and they are in full sun all day in PA. We did not fertilize but I'm wondering if we should. We built an arbor on rocky soil so we made boxes for our soil. They are open underneath so the roots can go where they want as necessary (or as they can in the rocky soil). I used your directions for planting in good organic soil. Arbor is 16' x 4' with lattice on the two sides and across the top. A soil box on either end - inside arbor - and one in the middle where the supports are. I have 2 plants on either end of the boxes. The boxes are 16 inches high. Any help or advice would be appreciated, as I just ordered 4 more plants to complete the area. I want to do this right the first time.

    How many kilos of grapes does

    Submitted by Gary Kornelsen on

    How many kilos of grapes does a plant produce annually?

    Grapes

    Submitted by Joe on

    Our tiny grapes set on but now they are drying up. They are only the size of small seeds. Plants are 4 yrs old and have produced a large amount of fruit the last 2 yrs. In checking the guide we have planted, pruned and good support according to all directions, can’t figure out what is causing this problem.

    Concord grapes

    Submitted by Jeannie La Coste on

    My vines are in their 4th yr. last yr. I had soooo many grapes. This yr. only a few small clumps. Hardly any!
    Can anyone tell me why this happened? Also when can I trim the leaves off? Do I have to leave them until all leaves are dead?

    Older Grap Vine Care

    Submitted by ST on

    We recently moved to a new home with a grape vine. It does not look like it has been groomed correctly. The center of the plant is think with foliage and the structure built around it has not support vine growth. The structure is roughly five tall and two feet square at the center. I have attached wire to support from adjacent structures and will also permit vining.

    How much can I trim from the plant without stressing it and how high up from the base?

    how much to trim?

    See the notes above under “Care” and consider this advice we recently provided to someone else:

    You need to prune. (You know that you will not have fruit this year, right?)  Per above,

    • …canes will only produce fruit once. Prune annually when vines are dormant, in March or April. This is before the buds start to swell, but when winter damage is apparent. (Better late than never; do it now.)
    • Be ruthless: Don’t be afraid to remove at least 90 percent of the previous season’s growth. This will ensure a higher quality product. Remember, the more you prune, the more grapes you will have.

    In this case, you need to prune it to the shape you want. Since no pruning has been done for years, that means you need to prune back to older wood. One-year-old wood (shoots that grew last year) will contain fruitful buds but it is best to prune back to the trunk. Next year, in early spring/late winter, maintain the shoots with buds.

    grapevine

    Submitted by gillian kong on

    i just planted my grapevine about 2 weeks. It started climbing nicely, got to about 3 feet high and i noticed that the top bunch of young leaves was cut by a grasshopper most likely. will it continue to vine or is that the end of my grape vine?

    vine damage

    If the plant has buds further down the main trunk, then it is likely that some of these will open, forming lateral shoots. For first year growth, choose the healthiest and most vertical of these new shoots and train it to be the new main trunk (tied loosely to a stake). Keep all leaves along the trunk but remove any unwanted lateral shoots for the first year. Remove any fruit that might form.

    If growth on the new trunk looks weak over the summer, cut the vine back to two buds in fall; this will set the plant back a year, but will encourage more vigorous growth the next year.

    Need help with well established grape vine.

    Submitted by Ashley Williams on

    I’m wondering what time is the best time in a day to water the vine. Also what is too hot for a grape vine?

    watering grape vines

    If you have an established grape vine, you don’t normally need to water after the first growing year. Usually, summers bring an inch of rainfall every 10 days or so. But if it gets really dry, you can give your new plant a good, thorough soaking. The best way to do this is to let your garden hose trickle slowly. This gives the water a chance to soak in instead of running off.  It’s important to note that even if you’re in the midst of a brown-lawn drought, you don’t want to water too much. Once every 10 days or two weeks is plenty. Worse than dry, thirsty roots is waterlogged, drowning roots.

    Neglected Grapevine

    Submitted by scott on

    I bought a house with a small grapevine on a trellis 3 years ago . The first year it produced a fair amount of grapes. It has been neglected since, and i'm looking for advice on how to proceed from here.

    how to recover a neglected grape vine

    You need to prune. (You know that you will not have fruit this year, right?)  Per above,

    • …canes will only produce fruit once. Prune annually when vines are dormant, in March or April. This is before the buds start to swell, but when winter damage is apparent. (Better late than never; do it now.)
    • Be ruthless: Don’t be afraid to remove at least 90 percent of the previous season’s growth. This will ensure a higher quality product. Remember, the more you prune, the more grapes you will have.

    In this case, you need to prune it to the shape you want. Since no pruning has been done for years, that means you need to prune back to older wood. One-year-old wood (shoots that grew last year) will contain fruitful buds but it is best to prune back to the trunk. Next year, in early spring/late winter, maintain the shoots with buds.

    Advice

    Submitted by Donna on

    Awesome answer, it answered most of what I was going to ask. But, I still would like to know is it too late to dig up and move to a new area ?

    Cane and Leaf Yellowing with Reddish-brown Splotches

    Submitted by Aaron Kawczk on

    Midway through the growing season last year, my grapevine canes and leaves began yellowing with reddish-brown splotches. Disease? Soil issue?

    Grape planting- Novist

    Submitted by Jay on

    Hello All ... i like to plant Grape vine plant in my yard ... anybody has any mature plants?

    Grape vine

    Submitted by Eileen kelly on

    I have bought a grape vine the grapes will be black I have a wooden half barrel I have filled it wth compost put plenty of stones in the bottom it does not get much sun where it is but I have nowhere else to put it I soaked it for 3 hrs it is about 2 foot tall with green growth and leaves for the top half will it do any good in the conditions I have givern it does it need feeding if so with what ?

    Wilting of Leaves of Grape Cuttings

    Submitted by Umair on

    I have planted grapevine cuttings at my home nursery in month of mid-February 2018.
    After 3 weeks buds are appearing and turns into leaves which after 3-4 days they start wilting and the whole bud dries and falls.
    Can anybody advise me to overcome the situation?

    Grapevine Cuttings

    Make sure the cuttings are getting enough water. Keep them out of direct afternoon sunlight if possible, as it may be too hot for young plants that are just getting started. 

    Pages

    Growing Grapes

    Botanical Name Vitis spp.
    Plant Type Fruit
    Sun Exposure Full Sun
    Soil Type Any
    Soil pH Slightly Acidic to Neutral
    Bloom Time
    Flower Color
    Hardiness Zones 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
    Special Features

    FREE BEGINNER'S GARDEN GUIDE!

    BONUS: You’ll also receive our Almanac Companion newsletter!

    The Almanac Webcam

    Almanac Headquarters Cam

    Visit the Almanac HQ Webcam

    Chosen for You from The Old Farmer's Store