Information is Your Best Tool When Grapes Growing
Read any guide on grapes growing today and they’ll tell you about all the things that you should do to make certain that you have great fruit to harvest. That’s all well and good, but what about the things that you just shouldn’t do at all costs? Come on, you might call yourself an expert grower now, but we’ve all been there. We’ve all done something to our grape vines that in hindsight just didn’t make any sense. Of course we’ve realized that it didn’t make sense at the point when we were holding our poor, dead vines in our hands in a scene straight out of a Hollywood tearjerker.
Before you go any further I’d like to recommend a quick and easy way to learn it’s called The Complete Grape Growing System
Take the experience of my neighbor Jim. My dear friend Jim, after looking at a landscaping documentary, decided that his backyard could benefit tremendously from the presence of a grape vine or two….an admirable conclusion to draw. His conclusion of what type of grape variety to grow was perhaps less admirable for Jim, the man who had absolutely no experience with grapes growing at all decided that he wanted a Pinot Noir vine of his very own. At this point, all the experienced growers who are reading this are uttering a collective groan accompanied by much head shaking.
For those of you who may not quite as familiar with the variety, here’s some information. Pinot Noir is a very sought after grape type for wine making because of its range of aromas and silky texture. Pinot Noir is also frost and disease sensitive and it ripens very early in the season (when there’s more frost). See the problem? It’s a gifted child, but an exceptionally difficult one.
Jim didn’t care as he has his heart set on those luscious grapes. He sourced his vines from the nursery (the guy behind the counter had a good laugh) and then proceeded to make every mistake ever known to grapes growing. He dug his planting hole, stuck the poor thing in there and then added the wrong fertilizer, which of course damaged the roots. Mind you, he also planted the thing under a tree. His grape vine care reasoning? He didn’t want to get sunburns while taking care of it, plus it could just climb the tree so he wouldn’t have to build a trellis. It was never certain exactly what killed it. It could have been the 5 inches of snow…possibly the subsequent massive insect infestation…maybe even the fact that he watered the thing almost every day. Needless to say, that was the end of the grapes growing adventure and nary a grape was to be seen.
What, you may be asking, is the point of this story? The point, my dear readers, is that learning how to grow grapes can only be achieved by arming yourself with as much information as possible. You need to know your climate and know what grape varieties will do best under those conditions. Grape vines cannot uproot themselves, plait themselves into a raft and then float themselves down river in a flood. You need to be aware of where the potential pitfalls are and learn how to avoid them.
While grapes growing can be a rewarding experience, too many people get into it without knowing exactly that it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, patience and a desire to learn how to grow grapes. And this is so sad considering the wealth of information that exists. There are some very good sources online including The Complete Grape Growing System which can give you an essential heads up on grapes growing fundamentals. It is very important that you make full use of the resources that are available to you if you really want to be a success at grapes growing.