Wine And Beer

Growing the Concord Grape

The Concord grape, which gets its name from Concord, Massachusetts, is a marble sized fruit that fills you entire mouth with a burst of robust sweetness!Developed in 1849 by Ephraim Wales Bull, today more than 400,000 tons of Concord Grapes are produced each year. Although most are grown commercially, Concord Grapes are one of many grape cultivars grown in the flower and fruit gardening guides home garden.There are many choices in Grape cultivarsThe amount of Grape varieties is enourmous there are many, it is important to check out what outcome you're after.If you only want their decorative appearance go for an easy sweet cultivar. If home made wine is your intention the Concord is a good choice, but do check local conditions to see where the optimum lies.The choices are many. Grapes are green, red, purple, or black. Some have no seed; some do not. Some do separate easily from the fruit (slip-skin) and some do not. Some are best for table use, some are best preserved in jellies or jams, some are grown especially for wine making, and some (like the Concord Grape) are multi-purpose.One thing all grapes have in common is the way they grow. Plant in early spring after the frost leaves the ground in thoroughly tilled, weeded, and composted soil. Pre-conditioning of the soil makes it rich in organic matter, yet provides good drainage.In addition to growing in your garden, grape vines are a beautiful ornamental and valuable as shade or screen plants around your flower and fruit gardening guides home when trained on a trellis or arbor. Grapes love full sun. Cultivars will produce best if planted on the south slope of your garden. It typically takes three years to establish a grape planting, but once established, one grape arbor will produce up to 40 years, a single vine producing up to 20 pounds of grapes per year!How do I Prune Concord GrapesWhole books can be written on the subject of pruning grapes. Fact is that they need rather hefty pruning. One rule of the thumb is that the wood formed the year before is going to be fruit bearing. So pruning too little will mean an abundance of little sour fruit. Too much an abundance of foliage and not many fruits.Depending on your location you should prune when the frost left the ground, but before the sap in the plant starts to rise. Never prune during the growing season.You want the plant to have the maximum space to grow. So keep the space where you keep your Grape Vines clean of weeds and other plants.Prune shoots back to the third or fourth leaf after the fruits. Remove any new growth. Also remove all leaves from around growing clusters to get maximum sun.Grapes change color long before they are ripe. To avoid picking clusters before they reach their peak, taste the them first. If they aren't ripe, wait for them to develop. Some fruits improve after they have been harvested, grapes don't. The Concord Grape is a mighty cultivar.