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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Concord Grapes

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  • From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Concord Grapes
  • Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:45:53 -0700

You're getting secondary crop. Some varieties are more prone to that than others. It's something of an ancient survival mechanism for grapes. Those late grapes usually don't ripen on many varieties, though winemakers may use them to add acid if the main crop is low in acid. The green (unripe) grapes can be used to make pies if you substitute them for gooseberries in a gooseberry pie recipe. Get them before the start to ripen and the seeds are still soft.
Some people like Caco, but for me it was always harsh and poorly flavored, though very vigorous.
-Lon Rombough
NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q58zFY0B1M
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
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On Apr 18, 2009, at 5:58 AM, William C. Garthright wrote:

OK, that's kind of what I thought. Another thing I forgot to mention is
that both vines are constantly producing late grapes, bunches they set
on in new growth that doesn't get a chance to ripen by winter. (I remove
them when I see them, but they're hard to spot when the foliage gets so
thick.) So it really seems as though the vines could deal with more
production.

Well, I WILL be overloading them this year, I imagine. I really left a
lot of canes this time. I might change my mind and thin the bunches when
the grapes set on, but I'm kind of wondering what this will do.

I've also got a Caco grape (or so the tag said), planted in the same
general area. I bought it a few years ago at a clearance sale at a
nursery which has since gone out of business (before I'd ever heard of
NAFEX or knew even the first thing about grapes - just a
spur-of-the-moment purchase). It is also extremely vigorous, with some
canes growing 20 ft. last summer. But the grapes have been really lousy,
small and rather sour. I left them on the vine last year until they
split, and they were still sour.

I definitely haven't been overcropping it, but it does get some shade,
so I'm wondering if that's the problem. Well, I'm going to give it
another year - letting it crop HEAVILY this summer - and then remove it
(somehow) if the grapes are still lousy. But is it likely that the shade
is the problem? If so, perhaps another variety would do equally poorly
there?



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