North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

Just thought you might be interested that my two Concord grapevines are 
just loaded with grapes this year. I'm very surprised, considering that 
I wondered if they were dead after that April freeze. I'd pruned them 
heavily, and sap was pouring out of the pruning cuts (which then froze 
into long icicles), and the buds were just starting to open up. After 
the freeze, they didn't show any sign of life for awhile, but they sure 
came out of it well!  I planted them three years ago this spring, and 
they produced a few clumps of grapes last year. They've been extremely 
vigorous, and I've really pruned them back each year. They don't seem to 
sprout new canes where I want them to, to make a nice, um,... scaffold?  
But I bumble along, anyway. Never a sign of insect or disease damage, 
either.

I've got a red Caco grape, too. (I bought these from a local nursery, 
without having any idea of what I was buying. Yeah, not smart.) It's 
never been as vigorous as the Concord, and the freeze seemed to kill off 
more of the buds, but it's still doing pretty well. I've got some nice 
clumps of grapes on it, too, though not as many as the Concords. 
Considering how everything looked last April, I'm quite happy. And all 
my young trees made it, too. I just lost the mulberry. No complaints here!

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true. - Francis Bacon