Several years ago I planted a concord grape vine. It grows... and I cut. If I let it go it would cover 40 feet of a fence. I does make a great fence topper, but, all that extra leaf and vine take away from the size of the grapes. There are things you should do to your grapes but for me, it is just a nice extra that I don't have to do anything to during the season. I don't water, fertilize or talk to them. The only maintenance during the year is to cut them back from areas I don't want them to travel. Once during the summer I spray them with an insecticide and when the grapes begin to turn I net them. No insecticide = Japanese beetle food. No net = bird food.
Here is the vine on the fence. I've had the netting on for a while now. Even still, the birds get up underneath and pluck some of the grapes.
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| Netted Concord Grapes |
Ahh. Time for some picking. I don't just go by the color. I taste them once in a while. When they get sweet enough but still have a tartness to them, it's time.
Here is the vine after cutting away the grapes. It's still intact, but not draping down the fence into the other plants.
Here is a shot of the bounty. These are grapes from one side of the fence. There are even more on the other!
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| Concord grape bounty |
Not bad for a 100 degree Midwest evening.
I'll clean these up and juice them before letting the juice settle in the refrigerator.
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| Juicing the grapes. |
How long do you let your juice set before skimming and filtering?
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