How To Grow Grapes And Make Amazing Wine
Are you curious how to grow grapes and make wine in your own backyard? The process may be complex, but the project itself is quite easy if you follow the directions. It takes time, patience and learned skill. You put those three things together and you will be amazing your friends and family with your first bottle of your own signature wine.
For more information on growing grapes try The Complete Grape Growing System
First off for the planting and tending of your grapes you will need some basic tools.
Gloves
Shovel
Pruning shears
Buckets
Bird netting
Fertilizer
Trellis
String
You will also need a few more materials
Soil
Water
Rootstock
Tips for choosing your rootstock
Home and patio growing grapes should be of the same type.
Small vineyards have an optimized size of 5-20 acres. Bigger than that and you need help
Home sized vineyards should be less than two acres and the grape variety should be the same
Go to your local nursery as they will carry the grape plants that grow best in your climate and soil. These are also easier to buy and more readily available
You should find a grape rootstock that has the minimum temperature it can survive as the lowest temperature that your climate normally gets. Grapes don't grow well in frigid climates. Anything less that 25 F can damage your plant.
Location, Location, Location
Pick your location like it was the most important thing you will do
Know your soil and the limits of your temperature
Know your growing season, the longer the season the better
Grapes need lots of water but don't grow well standing in it
Grapes love the sun
Ph of your soil is important. It should be between 6 and 6.5
When you purchase your rootstock and are not planting right away, put the roots into water. If the roots dry out they will die
Planting time is early spring just past the freeze
Grape roots grow deep make sure the soil is churned
Grape plants should be planted be 6-8 feet apart
Make or buy a trellis to train your grapes to grow on, they produce better that way
Tips on growing grapes
Place netting over the vines to help keep pests away
To harvest, cut the grape bunches off the vine with pruning shears
A healthy vine will have dark green dark green
Do you pruning when the season is dormant, usually wintertime
Prune! If you don't prune your grapes will be small and less abundant
Know the pests and diseases that will attack your vines and take care of them early
One acre will contain about 700 plants and each plant will produce about 10 pounds of grapes. As you can see how to grow grapes covers a lot of territory and you will have to know and learn a lot of different things. But once you get the basics down and add patience to this, then you will grow amazing grapes that will do your name justice.
