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How to Grow Grapes: Planting, Pruning, and Harvesting Tips

bunches of green grapes growing on a grape vine
Botanical Name
Vitis spp.
Grown as
Perennial
USDA Zones
2a
2b
3a
3b
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
9a
9b
Toxicity
Toxic to Dogs and Cats
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Water Needs
High
Height
20+ feet
Spread
6-10 feet
Soil pH
Neutral
Bloom Time
Spring
Flower Color
Green
White
Special Features
Container-Friendly
Fall Color
Fragrant
Attracts Pollinators
Attracts Songbirds
Resilience
Cold Hardy
Drought-Tolerant
Heat-Tolerant
Plant Type
Fruit
Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Interested in growing grapes in your backyard? Whether you’re planting grapes for fresh eating, homemade wine, or delicious jelly, these vigorous vines offer beauty and bounty. 

In this guide, you’ll learn how to grow grapes at home, including tips on choosing the right grape varieties, planting, pruning, and harvesting. With proper care, your grapevine can produce sweet, juicy fruit for decades, making it one of the most rewarding plants to grow in your garden.

Grape vines not only produce sweet and versatile fruits, but they also 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 makes 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.

Planting

  • Grapevines should be planted in early spring after the date of the last hard freeze has passed. Vines are usually purchased as dormant, bare-root plants.
  • 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 latticework 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 grapevine 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.

Growing

  • 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 grapevine 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 it 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.

Harvesting

  • 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.

Pests and Problems

Spacing for Grapes

Types

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 and 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.

Fruit

About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening, so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana.

Read more from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<span>Dianne Anderson</span> Sat, 07/11/2015 - 09:39
I have a wild purple grape vine. It has produced a medium amount of fruit for great jam & some for snacking. I want to move it to our yard. It is about 20 ft high. How DEEP should I dig it up after late Fall pruning to about 5'? Very healthy w/ huge leaves & fruit coming. I'm in zone 5 w/severe winters - Massachusetts. Thanx for all your great help!
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 07/13/2015 - 16:41

Depending on the age of the grape the roots may be massive. For best results you need to get as much of the roots as possible and try not to break too many roots. You also need to prune the vine to a managable size. Prune it down to just a couple of strong stems. Soak the roots in water before replanting in hole that is big enough to fit all the roots. The first couple of weeks after replanting the grape vine needs lots of water. Make sure to water daily and keep the soil nice and moist. You may also want to take a few cuttings from the vine to see if you can start some new vines.

 <span>Catherine L</span> Fri, 06/26/2015 - 11:44
Hello, I recently purchased a house that has grapes spread out on the ground - not trellised or arbored at all. (The mound of grape plants is approx. 15' in diameter.) As it's summer in Michigan, is there anything I should do now or just let them go until winter, and the prune them drastically back in order to build a trellis for them? (Last summer there were a few clusters on the plants, but the projects inside the house took all my time.) Would it potentially kill the plant to prune and trellis it now? Thank you.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 06/30/2015 - 17:12

You can do some pruning now but save the heavy pruning until the vines go dormant. See some tips on summer pruning at http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2005/072305.html.

 

 

 <span>Andrea Leslie</span> Sat, 06/20/2015 - 20:19
We were able to get a European grape starter back in March (St Emilion). We planted it in a large pot as directed and were astonished to see large leaves appear in a week or so. Since then it has slowed down, the leaves are small and dry up quickly. Soil is good, not overwatering, direct sunlight...what's wrong? We are in the Denver area. AL
<span>Phil Kullinski</span> Sat, 06/06/2015 - 17:02
I have 5 vines that were mature when I bought the house 35 years ago. Last year, we had a bumper crop. Lots of juice, wine, and jelly. This year, none of the vines have put out any growth. Pruning, watering, fertilization has remained constant. What could have happened?
<span>John Illinois</span> Thu, 06/04/2015 - 01:52
I have clay soil on a small hill. Will grapes grow well is such soil even with soil additives?
<span>Ataramac</span> Wed, 09/16/2015 - 09:58
Hi John, I live in the Pacific Northwest and have solid clay soil. My grapes grow beautifully here and produce delicious, sweet fruit. I've not amended it in any way -- just planted the vine and it took off. Good luck.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 06/08/2015 - 14:56

Hi John,

You need to amend the soil so that it is well-drained and loose deep down. Maybe you can grow some grapes in containers with a good soil mix.

 <span>Herkiejerky</span> Sun, 05/31/2015 - 20:54
I live in South Florida, zone 10+; 20 mins from Miami. I recently purchased a potted cab vine from Walmart. Today I replanted it into a bigger pot but is this all for nothing? I realize it's too humid and wet down here with no elevation and really no drainage but will keeping the vine in a pot give it a chance??? Any tips and comments are appreciated.