North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ginda Fisher" <list@ginda.us>]

If it's a nutrient imbalance it's one specific to grapes.  The lawn, raspberries, apricot, garlic, daffodils, and thyme that grow within a few feet of the grapevine are all flourishing, and are all fruitful.  (well, usually I mow the lawn before seeds ripen, but it certainly does its part.)

The asparagus is not thriving, but there's some asparagus disease common in the soil around here.  Also, it really wants full sun.  

-- Ginda

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Lon J. Rombough wrote:

It still sounds like a nutrient imbalance, or possible something toxic in the environment. I don't know of any disease or insect that would selectively remove flower clusters that way. That makes it likely that a replanted vine could have the same problem unless you can locate and correct it. If you are going to remove it, dig down to where the roots come off the bottom of the trunk. That will be where they came out of the bottom of the original cutting. Cut the roots a couple of inches out from the trunk and take out the vine. The roots are unable to sprout new shoots and will die, though they can stay alive in the soil up to four years. Without knowing the cause of your problem, I hesitate to recommend any grape for replanting. -Lon Rombough NEW grape pruning video: http://www.bunchgrapes.com/dvd.html View a short, low resolution clip here: 0000,0000,EEEEhttp://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. A video about The Grape Grower : Verdana0000,0000,EEEEhttp://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/ I've had this Canadice grape vine for years, and I've only gotten fruit once. In every other year, it grows flower buds, and then they abort and fall off without blooming. I've attached a photo of one that fell off at the bottom of this post. Lon suggested it might be too much nitrogen (the vine abuts the lawn, which gets corn gluten every spring and fall) and I wonder if the problem might be aggravated by less-than-full sunlight. It only gets a few hours of direct sunlight, and gets light high shade the rest of the day. The one year that it did fruit, the fruit was good, but didn't knock my socks off. It tasted a little better than good grapes at the supermarket, but not nearly as good as my uncle's "New York Muscat", nor as interesting as plain old Concord. So I want to give up on it and try something else. Here are my questions: 1) Can I plant another grape where a grape was? 2) What's the best way of removing this one to make way for a new one? Or should I try to graft? 3) Any other ideas what the problem is? 4) What cultivars might be less susceptible to this problem, and taste better than supermarket grapes? _______________________________________________ nafex mailing list nafex@lists.ibiblio.org Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed. This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites. Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission! **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!** Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded. No exceptions. ---- To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options): http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex File attachments are NOT stripped by this list. TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES! Please do not send binary files. Use plain text ONLY in emails! NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/