North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Charles Paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>]

Thirty years ago two-needle red pines were planted in a single row on the 
back edge of the property.  Sun goes directly onto several of them with not 
too much obstruction.    The pines are off course tall, say 25' or 30', and 
the trunks are bare at least the bottom 15'.   Dead limbs appear on the bare 
trunks appearing promising to help the grapes cling.

I've always thought pines beat the soil.  I wonder if there will be enough 
water and other nutrients to encourage the grapes to grow up on them.  On the 
other hand, one of the pines has an enormous volunteer grape, apparantly 
male-only because it blooms copiously, and it is a heavy vine growing 
completely to the top of the pine it is growing on.

So what do you all think?  Are you for my planting the grapes at the base of 
the pines, or against it?

If you are for it, at what height should the grapes be kept down to?  
[climbing trees is a hard way to harvest grapes!]

Charlie Paradise
zone 5ish Massachusetts