North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>]

On Feb 17, 2011, at 7:34 PM, mike engle wrote:

> Background:  70+ years ago, my great-grandfather had about 100-150  
> Concord grape vines that he hired some Italians to take care of.    
> When they became too old and gave the house to my grandparents, they  
> stopped growing the grapes.
> Today, there are a few wild grapes growing in two locations, one  
> about 50 feet from that original location, and the other maybe ~5000  
> feet away.   This year, I am planting five other varieties of grapes  
> on the original location.  A relative of mine just passed away, but  
> he mentioned that he wanted to bring those grapes back to grow for  
> himself.
>  My questions:  I assume I don't want wild grapes growing too close  
> to non-wild grapes?  So should I cut down these wild grapes?  But as  
> a tribute I would like to get a couple of vines of these original  
> grapes back into non-wild status.  Is this possible, and is there a  
> best way I should go about this?
>
> Michael Engle
> Troy, NY - 5

Are they actually wild grapes, or are they Concord vines that have  
survived?

If they're wild grapes, nothing you do to them is going to make them  
non-wild. If they're Concords, reclaiming them should be easy (and  
it's possible they are Concords, it's pretty hard to kill a Concord  
anywhere they're hardy. -- even if they are Concords, on unpruned  
vines the grapes may be small, tart flavored, and in straggly bunches,  
so don't go by the size of the fruit; and make allowances for lack of  
sugar in judging by the flavor.)

70+ years ago, they were most likely own rooted. If you want to keep  
them in their current locations, cut them off at the ground; they'll  
sucker like crazy.  Select a couple of sturdy suckers and cut off all  
the rest; train those suckers as you want them, and go from there.  
(You won't get fruit the first year; Concords won't bear on a sucker  
-- that is, on a new cane coming straight from the roots or from wood  
several years old. Fruit will be produced on canes that, in a given  
year, are growing from the previous year's wood.)

If you want to move them, you can do one of three things: 1) Start as  
above, but dig up some of the suckers and move them. 2) Take cuttings,  
root the cuttings, and plant them. 3) Layer them: take a cane that  
grew last year, bend it over to the ground, bury it a few inches deep  
with a couple of nodes coming back up out of the ground on the other  
side. Prune the parent plant heavily, but leave some growth on it. Let  
the layers grow where they are for a year or two; then cut them off  
from the original vines, dig them up, and plant them where you want  
them. -- I'd be inclined to layer them, myself, as you may get the  
highest survival percentage; but this does require leaving the plants  
where they are for at least another year.

As far as whether they should be growing near your new grapes: depends  
on what, if any, diseases they may be carrying, and whether your new  
grapes are resistant to those. -- I don't know whether, if you  
propagate the original vines from cuttings, there's a practical way to  
sterlize the cuttings without killing them. Lon, do you want to weigh  
in in this?


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale