How to grow grapes in your backyard?

How we grow Grapes in our backyard garden in Vancouver.

Vitis Vinefera

Grapes are one of nature’s most impressive fruit. It is a very rewarding plant, easy to grow in the garden, and graceful for their beauty and produce.  They are so beautiful when the grapes are green as well as matured.  Home grown grapes are superior in taste, less in pesticide, and cheap too.

Do you know a bunch consists of 25 Ruby Roman grapes cost $250? You need not be rich to have home grown grapes in your back yard. What you require is a will to grow, a small piece 2x 4  feet of sunny land, a trellis and patience for 3-5 years for the vine to establish.

Grapes can be planted on the side of fence, arbors, trellis. If you got 2x4 feet space you can plant a grape and guide them to any place where you got sunshine. It can be grown in large container too. 
Common varieties grown in Vancouver area are Vitis Vinefera, Grape De chunac, Thomson seedless, Concord etc

You can buy plants from the nursery. Heavily rooted, medium size plants are the best.

Grapes essentials

Sunlight	Fruit needs plenty sunlight. But you can plant it anywhere and take the vine to sunny spots
Soil	Slightly acidic.
Soil drainage	Fertile well aerated soil. Heavy clay soil may delay maturing. Heavy clay soil can be changed by adding more organic matter like peat moss   and soil
Pollination	Mainly self-pollinating

When to transplant?

Plant grapes in early spring.  A sloping or raised site provides adequate drainage.

Spacing & Planting

Take a pit 12 to 18 inches wide and deep to avoid overcrowding of roots. Since roots will reach into the soil 12to 18 inches, it is better to improve the soil to that depth. Plant at a depth of 6 inches in Vancouver. If it is colder place like Calgary or Edmonton plant at 8 inches deep.  Spread the roots and cover them. Fill with top soil, one handful of bone meal and little organic material. Water well. When it shoots, remove all but 2 or 3  strong shoots.  Allow 8 x 8 ft for each vine. If the vine is planted from pot, soak the roots in water for 2-3 hours.

Both types- Vitis Vinefera in blue bucket. And
Grape De Chunac grapes in white bucket

First few years of grape

Don’t let the vine bear fruit until the third growing season. Fourth year allow small crop. Fifth year vine should reach full production. Cut all shoots back to 2 or 3 growth buds.

Fertilization

Fertilize vines in winter ie February and March. Fertilizers applied in summer or spring encourages excessive growth.  Apply aged manure in late fall or winter. Mushroom manure, cow manure, bone meal etc are good.  One cup or 250 ml of 20-10-10 NPK high in nitrogen and less phosphorous and potassium  is required for each vine. For vines less than 5 years use half cup fertilizer. Fertilize 8-12 inch away from the stem. If the plant was unattended for a long time to stimulate growth by applying 56 gm (2 ounce) of ammonium-sulphate around the base of each plant in winter or spring. Always water the soil immediately after the fertilizer. Do not overdose. Excess fertilizer may kill the plant. If you feel you have applied more fertilizer , dilute the soil  with water or remove if you can. No need of applying calcium, because grapes like slightly acidic soil.

Pruning

Prune mature grape wine during late winter dormant season or very early spring before growth starts.ie mainly in Nov and Feb in Vancouver area. Don't prune when the new shoots are forming in March April. You will bleed them to death. Pruning means removing 50 to 70% of the previous year’s growth. Pruning is a must in each winter or spring.  There are different styles of pruning depending on the verity and growth habit. Some varieties are pruned long and some require short “spur” pruning. The vine bear fruits on the present year branch. Second pruning can be done after the flowers are blossom. Cut out the shoots which have no fruits to get the energy into fruits.

In Vancouver new buds will form by beginning of May. New bunches of grapes will form by June end. Keep only  3 to 4 bunches of grapes on each shoot if you are planning to produce large perfect grapes. Pinch out tips of shoots in summer after 15 leaves. Eighty bunches for each vine is ideal. Usually buds with in the middle portion bear more fruit than those at the end.

First 5 years
Don’t let the vine bear fruit until the third growing season. Fourth year allow small crop. Fifth year vine should reach full production. Cut all old branches back to 2 or 3 growth buds. New shoots will appear soon.

Harvesting

Grapes will be ready for harvest between August and September. Fruit requires sunlight to ripen. If it is covered with lots of foliage remove some.  Early ripening grapes are better in Vancouver since heavy rain in September and October will spoil the grapes. Moreover animals like raccoon, rats will eat the fruits especially when rains. Enjoy the gracious plant and the fruits.
 If the spring rain starts earlier and new buds grow earlier, and the average temperature in summer remains high, the grape will mature earlier by end of August.  Choose a dry day to harvest. Wet grapes will spoil fast.

Tastes.

Grapes taste sweet, sour, and bitter when we chew the skin. The smell and aroma is mouthwatering. We over emphasize sweetness as a yardstick of its taste. In Pune, India grape farmers sell sweetest one within India and the  less sweet is exported to Europe.  In Europe they prefer less sweet. Appreciate the natural flavor of a fruit than sweetness in it. Seedless is genetically modified (GM). Grape seed contains some vitamins and oil.

Growing grapes  in Kerala.

In Kerala there is an increase in grapes growing. Grapes grow well anywhere in Kerala. What is required is the right variety, pruning, fertilizing, and patience to wait for 4 to 5 years to establish the stem.   
Bangalore purple grows well as per Chandra Sekharan Pillai , a gardener in Trivandrum. see his Video 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOPo38xpZH4
The common fertilizer used by Kerala growers are cow manure, neem cake, peanut cake, and organic material like dried leaves. One farmer told it blooms three times in a year. In Trivandrum one of the farmers pruned and applied the manure on the same day. Click the following URLs to know about Kerala grape growing techniques. You are born to explore the possibilities, and do something creative. Wake up the Creative Genius dormant in you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-j5OIqf3D8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsBitmO6EI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ww3XntrmhA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6XLiConfcU
http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6897e/x6897e06.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewMS5p2oEWA
http://www.nhb.gov.in/Horticulture%20Crops/Grape/Grape1.htm