How to grow grape vines?
Grape growing is fun, easy and provide a great family activity for all to share. Some of my fondest memories as a young child was in the vineyards. Believe it or not, grapes are extremely easy to grow and maintain, but you must do it correctly.
Step 1 – Location. Drainage is very important. You need to pick a location that has adequate drainage. Grapes do not like to much water. This is why most vineyards are located on a hill or some sort of incline. When choosing your location for growing grape vines, make sure your location has some sort of pitch.
Step 2 – Soil. Soil is somewhat important but not as important as most people tend to believe. Most people who have problems will blame it on the soil when in reality the variety of grape was wrong for their area (I will go into this more later). As long as the variety is correct, grapes will grow in any soil. It would be a good idea to add some sort of natural additive (manure) to the soil as well.
Step 3 – Purchasing/Planting. This is by far the most important step in the grape growing process. You can pick the right location, have good soil and do everything else right, but if you choose the wrong variety of plant, you will see no results. I’ve found that the best way to start is to visit a few local vineyards. Go to a few of them and ask them what they suggest you plant. Also look at some of the wine they have their and take note of the variety of grape used in the wine. This would be a good starting point.
Once you purchase your grapes, you want to separate them by at least 5 feet. Dig a hole with a post hole digger (or shovel) and plant the newly purchased vines at least 10 inches into the ground. Make sure all roots are covered.
Step 4 – Watering. Grapes do NOT like a lot of water. I water my grape vines every 3 days if there was no rain. If there was rain, I count that as a watering session and wait until another 3 dry days have passed.
Step 5 – Pests. Birds and incests LOVE grapes (and all berries for that matter). I usually let the incests have their take because I do not like using chemicals, but they are an option for you to use. To keep your vines free of birds, you can place a net over them. Before using a net simply watch the crop and see how much of a problem the birds are causing. I suggest only using a net if the birds are causing a big problem and eating a lot of your crop.
That is a brief overview of everything you need to know in order to get started growing grape vines in your backyard.
