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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Grapes on trees

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  • From: road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Grapes on trees
  • Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2004 20:28:11 -0500


On Thursday, December 23, 2004, at 03:20 PM, Jim Fruth wrote:

From: Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>
Date: Thu Dec 23, 2004 03:20:12 PM US/Eastern
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] Grapes on trees
Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>

Rivka from Finger Lakes, N.Y. wrote: "I think the climates in which
grapes are often grown mixed in with trees
are further south. In Massachusetts, I'd plant them well away from the
trees; I think they're going to need all the sun they can get. Grapes
growing even in corners of vineyards near trees in my area often don't
ripen as well as those further from the woods."
I don't know how it is in Massachusetts but, here in Northern Minnesota,
grapes do quite well climbing on trees. In fact, I observe them doing
equally well as those I have trellised. There seems (to me) to be an
evolutionary trend that those plants that possess large leaves have the
ability to thrive under the shade of smaller-leaved plants - squash growing
in a corn field is an obvious example - grapes too, I think.

Do you mean just that the vines are doing well, or that the fruit is ripening well and of high quality?

A vineyard I once managed with a shady corner produced poor quality fruit in that corner (later ripening than the rest to the point of often not ripening before frost, and often with rotting berries in the clusters), although other vines of the same variety growing elsewhere in the same vineyard, under the same management, did much better.

I don't know anyone in this area growing grapes in the shade, or on trees. And there are a *lot* of grapes grown around here. Training systems are designed to get as much sun on the leaves as possible. (I doubt many growers experimented with putting some on the trees, though; and it's also true that the grapes are mostly machine picked, which would by itself preclude trees in the rows, and isn't an issue for the home gardener or fresh fruit grower.)


--Rivka
Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly





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