Friday 8 April 2011

GRAPE GROWING TO PRODUCE WINE



A Short Guide To Wine Grape Growing

Growing grapes goes back to the early centuries. The fruit produced is either made into wine or eaten as is.  Because of the production of food and wine from the grapes, it has been scrutinized based on the grape groups that has been used.

Wine grape growing today is a serious business and many people are becoming interested in how the delicious drink is made. When you ask a wine connoisseur, he/she will often tell you that it usually depends on the grapes, how it was grown and other factors that may affect the flavor of the wine.

You should think whether you want a red or white grapes for your wine grape growing experiment.  Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah are among the red varieties. One of the very popular red wines available today comes from the Syrah red grapes which have a flavorful and powerful taste. Also this variety is grown in various parts of the world.

The popular white varieties include Chardonnay, Sylvaner, Chenin Blanch and Pinot Gris, among others.  From this selection, Pinot Gris is a wine which has an excellent taste and color and is made of low-acid fruits. Experts describe the taste as a combination of spice cake and pear. The fruit from this white grape variety is a deep yellow to copper color, and they are grown in cool to hot temperature regions.

Wine grape growing takes the season and region to be one of the important factors.  If both grapes are grown in different places, they would eventually end up with different flavors. When regions are popular for the taste of their wines, it’s because of the ideal conditions they have for wine grape growing.

The obligations of the vineyard owner exceeds that of just taking care of the produce.  The quality of fruits should not suffer from the wine grape growing that they got interested in, as a lot of care and expertise goes into it. Flavor of the wines are affected because of factors like weather, drainage, soil, topography, length of ripening season, exposure to sunlight as well as pests.

If you love wines, you will appreciate the process of wine grape growing as well as the process of wine making overall. In time, you can also classify yourself as an expert like them.

Grape Growing Conditions

Whether it is plants, animals, or humans the environment plays a huge role in the growth and survival of all living things. In growing grape vines, the grape growing conditions cannot be taken for granted for a successful grape harvest.

With enough sunlight, grape vines like its environment better than the rain because grape vines are not too fond of excessive water. And in places with four standard seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter, winter remains a problem for some growers.  To grow grape vines with these four seasons considering the grape growing conditions, you could have a hot house providing that you have enough funds to buy one to maintain the conducive grape growing conditions that you need especially in the winter season.  Hot houses have this ability to maintain a moderate temperature within this environment.

Soil has also an effect to grape growing conditions, although it’s being grown in vines, soil with loam or at least sandy contain minerals that encourage healthy growth of grape vines. The kind of soil you use for your garden must be based on climate conditions. Sandy soil for a frequent rain because it does not hold water for so long.  On the other hand, loamy soil is ideal for places which do not have much rain, because it has the capability of preserving water for a long time.

You can logically place your grape vines in a location where they can get as much sunlight as possible throughout the day. Generally, grape growing conditions vary according to different factors that may directly or indirectly affect the whole cycle of grape production.  The availability of this fruit is not available in all places although it’s the most sought-after fruit because of their many uses.

There are two influencing conditions that goes with grape growing conditions.  A good climate condition helps a lot for a good flavor of grape growing.  Growing grapes should be equipped with suitable soil conditions. To prevent the dehydration of your young grape vines, the bare rootstock must be planted immediately and water them for a few months with proper drainage placed to prevent saturation of the roots.

Grape Growing For Wine

From Merlot, Cabernet, Sauvignon and others, these are varying flavors that grape growing for wine delivers. Grapes as we less knew, do not need loads of manures and fertilizers, they grow well in quite poor soils and just need a little after attention. Roots has the tendency of finding what they are looking for and search out.

Planting grape growing for wine is best carried out in autumn and in any case before Christmas. Once the vine is already planted, spread a little manure above the roots.  You may not need to it in continuous seasons provided that you had a mulch for it for each spring.  The mulch is described as a protective layer placed over the soil to preserve moisture, provide nutrients while suppressing weed and reducing the incident of erosion.

When pruning grape growing for wine, it is best to cut some of them during summer and those that are left to bear next year’s fruit should be cut back to five or six buds in autumn or early winter. Many varieties ripen in September or earlier if the summer has been good. The weather is still warm for a satisfactory fermentation when you come to transform your grape growing for wine into wine itself.

High quality grapes are best products for grape growing for wine. It is most often a challenge but results are often worth the effort. The best locations for grape growing for wine are those with warm, dry summers, and mild winters.  Given a long period of coolness, grape vine usually dies.  Climate should be good long enough for the grape growing for wine to mature adequately.

South or Southwest or those that receive more sunlight provides a good spot to plant your grapes.  You don't want it to get shaded by the sun so it’s best to avoid planting near trees.  For the roots to be not continually saturated, the soil should allow for good drainage.

Its best to identify which kind of wines you like as the kind of grapes you grow will determine what kind of wine you are going to produce.

Grape Growing Guide For The Newbie

Grape growing dates back to the ancient times in the early B.C. and even beyond. Wine is often the final product aside from the fruits that people consume.  If you are fortunate to have a little vineyard to generate your interest, go ahead with the grape growing guide to start off with.

In this day and age, you can find almost any piece of information that you need on the internet. By browsing the search engines for information about grape growing guides, you'll get numerous results.  You have to determine the assistance that guides can provide you depending on the simplicity and readability of the instructions and tips.  Its important to assess the contents of the grape growing guide and see if this will work for you and your vineyard.

Below are the basic aspects that every grape growing guide should have:

How to obtain your grape vine

Visit a local nursery for dormant grape vines.  These are usually bare-rooted and about a year old. They are usually sold in the early spring because this is an ideal season for planting grape vines. The vines should be kept moist until they are ready for planting.

Selecting the right area 

Grape vines needs space to absorb sufficient amount of sunlight during daytime.  As much as possible, absence of trees or other structures should be reduced as much as possible for the proper flow of air and sunlight to your grape vines.  It's recommended to have the vines planted facing north to south so that the vines get a lot of sunshine.

Methods to plant grape vines 

To cover for the grape vine's root system, make a hole that is sufficient enough to hold it. Make it at least 2 feet deep.  Don't put a division on the buds in the vine.  To prevent air pockets, lightly pat down the soil and put the vine in the hole. Leave a small depressed area around the vine for easy watering.

Process to water the vines


Watering the vines will depend on the soil that you use.  Clay-based soils are watered less often because they are more absorbent. Sandy soil is the opposite and requires frequent watering.  With enough drainage in it, vines are able to get enough water.

The guide you chose should meet the requirements of your grape growing cultivation.

Grape Growing Varieties

Most of the problems that gardeners encounter are because they do not really understand the nature of the fruit that they are growing. Gardeners want to grow some grapes but they are unaware of the variety they are growing and its growth habit.

Concord types and European Vinifera Grapes are the two most common varieties which can be found in local nurseries. Grape growing in Concord types have a more drooping habit of growth while Vinifera Types are more upward in their growth habit. Meaning that grape growing in these kinds of varieties has to be trained differently because they grow differently.

During the growing season, grape growing in Concord Types are low and they should be trained high and allowed to grow in a descending fashion.  However, the Vinifera types must be trained low and should be allowed to grow in an ascending way. Grape growing in this type takes advantages of the natural growth habit and maximizes the sunlight into the leaves to get the best ripening conditions and yield of grapes.

With these nature of growth, essential tools and minerals should well support the grape growing in this environment to make grape planting an uncomplicated process and not just an annoyance. Make this grape growing successful with enough time, money and energy.  A need for the trellis is required for those grape growing in vines. Without this, your grapes will possibly die or perhaps be crawling almost anyplace. Either you buy or make one.

Invest more on fertilizers and pest control management systems to protect your hobby as well as your grapes growing in your vineyard.  Determine your purpose whether you want them for your wine or food when selecting your varieties.  Basically, ordinary grapes are used for making wine while table grapes are intended to be present on the dining tables.

Grape Growing Season - Why Is It Important?

Vineyard owners and farmers know that the grape growing season is crucial and it is one of the factors that can affect the quality of grapes. Grapes are basically moderate temperature crops because the vines thrive more in seasons that are neither too hot nor too cold.  Warm temperatures and sunlight offers the sweetest grapes there is. The grape belt in most of the continental U.S. is between 30 to 50 degrees N. latitude. Grapes are more acidic and have less sugar when grown during the cool seasons.

For standard varieties, the grape growing season is around 150 - 180 days.  But there are also longer and shorter seasons. Many vineyards choose a variety that matures during a certain grape growing season and for them, the earlier the better.

Grape vines like well-drained and deep loam soils. Even moisture in the soil is essential for the vines.  With acidic soils of 5 to 5.5 pH, it gives benefits too. In retaining the pH, you can mulch the vines with pine or fir .

The grape growing season usually runs from March to October for certain regions.   Within this time frame, this period is almost perfect for the vines with it not being too hot nor too cold in this moderate period of climate.  Buds usually break during March.  The blooms are out in May and the fruit set too.  By the time August arrives, the ripening process begins.  Grapes are already ripened in the first of October tentatively.

Grape growers look for early and late development during the grape growing season. Late ripening grapes are worrisome because the later the harvest, the bigger possibilities of rain before the grapes are picked.  It's important to note that rain does not go well with grapes.

During the grape growing season, it would be difficult dealing with climate changes. Aside from rain, snow and too hot temperatures can disrupt the normal process of the crop.  To facilitate development and bearing of fruits, you need to know the type of climate in your region before you decide on growing grapes.

Grape Growing Tips For A Newbie

The process of grape growing can be profitable if you understand the basics properly. But in the meantime, it is best to stick to a trial-and-error phase and use all the grape growing tips that you can find.

Best information about grape growing tips are known to be provided by the Experts. It is not to say that you can be a master in cultivating grapes, but rather, you'll learn the basic principles from people who have enough experience. You can either go online or offline if you wish to get grape growing tips.  References such as e-book, magazines, blogs, official websites and other informational materials offline and online are available.

From the selection of types of grapes, the process of growing grapes differs. If you want to grow table grapes, there are certain varieties to choose from. This is also the same for wine grape. You need to consider the climate that is suitable for the grape variety of your choice since it can hugely affect the flavor of the fruit.  Usually, moderate climate is ideal for growing grapes but there are also some that survive in higher or lower temperatures.

Another consideration is to have the right type of soil. There are varieties of grapes that call for certain types of soil in order for them to thrive and produce good quality fruits.  Grapes may have sandy or ground and dry soil, while others love clay-like foam in structure.  If you don't want to make adjustments, you need to look out for the type of soil that suits your chosen grape variety.

Fertilizers should not be overlooked on the basics of grape growing tips.  For the grape vines not to be saturated or under-nourished, determine how much fertilizer should be used.

You also have to consider whether you are going to use trellises for your grape vines.  While some growers choose to use trellises for their vineyards, others prefer to use stakes. So whichever you select, make sure that the choice is appropriate for your location to give enough room for the vines to grow.

There are a lot of resources where you can find useful grape growing tips.  From local vineyard owners and expert, everything is possible.

Table Grape Growing

Growing your own table grapes has its benefits. First, you get to save by growing your own grapes for eating or for making grape jelly and juice.  Second, table grape growing can be a hobby if you're a person who prefers to stay at home. Third, this can provide you with a business to earn yourself some money.

Table grape growing takes a lot of time, patience and effort but it can make investment returns as you can make cheap grape product alternatives that you usually see in the market such as juices, jelly or even bread spreads.  Table grape are being grown in the greenhouse in cold winter areas because its typical for a grape to grow under hot conditions.  The greenhouse composition is built to maintain heat from the sun and have it magnified for the plants and grapes to thrive and still benefit from the sun's rays without growing in the harsh conditions outside the greenhouse.

Table grapes are late bloomers, producing thin-skinned fruit that grow in clusters, oversized leaves and creeping vines.  There are a couple of things to consider if you decide on table grape growing as table grapes have low sugar content than wine grapes but they are actually more flavorful when they are eaten.  The flavors from their juices are not compatible with fermentation though but some wine makers incorporate some of these in wines and it generally produces low quality wine .

Green, Red, and Blue-Black are variations for table grape growing and they can either be seedless or not. A mistake that can be made by those who decide to go with table grape growing is not understanding the type of grape being grown. Also you should be aware of the disease and weed control as these both hinder the growth of the grapes.  Keep a look out for frost and predators.

Other considerations to be aware of are the amount of nutrients to use for the growth of your grapes and making sure the soil is well-drained.  Your grapes will look and taste better grown with good soil.

The Essentials Of Concord Grape Growing

Concord grape growing may look challenging at first. But there are folks who start with this type of grape when it comes to cultivating them in their own backyard.  The concord grape seeds are available almost anywhere, in any place of gardening shops. The name was derived from a city in Massachusetts. And like any variety of grapes, this type also needs care and maintenance.  In the wild, Concord grape vines are seen to be growing too.   Because of the tart taste, this particular type of grape is appropriate for making grape juice.

If you're planning to go for Concord grape growing, you need to keep a few things in mind:

First, decide whether to grow from scratch using seeds or to use vines. It doesn't really matter which one you choose since both are great methods for Concord grape growing.

Choose the type of soil for your grapes. Most folks who are into Concord grape growing use black and rich soil. The growing vines benefit from adding compost and mulching as it helps them grow and develop.  After 2 weeks, you may now add fertilizers and remember to maintain this regularly including the weeding process.

Location is important too.  Grapes of any variety grow better under the sun.  Make certain that your backyard gets enough sunlight that your grapes need.  Also, a need for a good drainage system counts.  Do not plant vines in soil with poor drainage. Sloping and hilly areas are ideal for Concord grape growing and for any variety of grapes in general because of good drainage.

Grape vines must grow on desired areas that you think is best.  For a large vineyard, make use of trellises but there are vines that crawl on walls such as home-grown vines . These structures are both ideal for support as the vines grow. If you are unable to make a trellis yourself then find yourself a ready made trellis at a gardening store.

Pruning your Concord grapes during winter and spring seasons is a crucial part of cultivating it.  You need to be cautious when pruning because new grapes still grow on the vines and Concord grape vines thrive from these new growths.

Any vegetation or produce surely needs time and effort, and grape vines are not an exception.  Concord grape planting requires guidance and enough knowledge and preparation to be a success.

What Grape Growing Supplies Should You Get?


Grape growing is an ancient practice due to the fruit that people consume and made into wine. People in those early times also considered grape growing and wine-making as art forms because of the way they are produced.  Back then, grape growing supplies were plentiful because of the requests of ancient vineyards and cultivating grapes were just for people who could afford extra luxury.

Grape growing is really a serious business even today. It needs patience, time, effort and budget.  It should not be taken lightly because of serious efforts required physically, emotionally, and financially.  With the grape growing supplies available, you should have the basic equipments for application. The varieties of grapes should be the first consideration when you are planning to cultivate them. If you are planning to make wine out your produce, there are certain varieties that fit this purpose. Same goes for table grapes and cooking variants.

In growing grapes, soil is an important factor. You need to assess the quality of soil to see if it is ideal for the variety of grapes that you choose. Also, the grape vines should be able to thrive in the type of soil you have.  Apart from soil, other factors to consider is whether there is enough sunlight and water for your grape vines.

Since it is usually cultivated and maintained by hand, a vineyard also needs the primary tools for gardening.  Farmers and workers manage vines and fruits and they make use of gardening tools to make the work easier.

Aside from the accessibility of internet, grape growing supplies can also be found in many of the local garden shops.  Supplies could be water sprinklers for watering the soil, grape vine root ball, shovels for aerating soil, and a trellis system which can be made of wood or PPV.  Items like compost, peat moss, fertilizer, net, pruning scissors, wires, and poles for the vine stands are some of other grape growing supplies you need to have.

If you think that grape growing is for you, it is best to learn from the experts.  Understanding the fundamentals and acquiring basic skills can be further improved through the help of vineyard experts. With the key elements on grape growing supplies and farming, you'll soon get used to the trade.

Good luck!

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