Finally some grapes...

[Sean]

I started a grape vine from a cutting when I first moved to Vancouver 11 years ago and for the first time ever, I have a small cluster of grapes on it. I do not know the variety or even if they are eating or wine grapes.

I'll figure out if they are palatable soon enough I guess.

Cheers,
Sean

[tinkster]

hehehe... I am in almost the same shape. Mine are only 5 years old though and this year they are covered wtih clusters.. I am not even sure when grapes get ready.  Mine are a tad bigger than marbles and have been forever but dont seem to be getting bigger.  I am wondering if I should be picking them!

I want to make jelly with mine

tink

[Freddie Peepers]

Tink:
The raccoons will let you know when they are ready
One morning you will go out to your grapevine and all the grapes will be missing cause the raccoons got to them first
Works the same way with sweet corn

[Mikey]

You have a lot of patience.  Congratulations.

[kitfoxdrvr]

Great job, Sean!  Nothing like food out of your own garden!  And I promise you they will be better than the ones from South America!!!

Tinkster, if the racoons leave them alone, when the wasps start swarming around them, they are ready for jelly!   

I have red, whites and blues (Guess what Stark Brothers calls the collection) and I have the most trouble telling when the reds are ripe.  The whites get a little "clearer" or slightly more translucent and the blues get really purple, but the reds are red for a long time before they are ripe.  I just taste, and then my wife can tell if they are ready-she says I smile if they are ripe and pucker if they aren't.  She is really smart about stuff like that...

Steve

[miguynmkoi]

Congrats on the grapes, Sean.  I didn't know they take so long before setting fruit.  I was thinking of growing a grape vine over an arbor, maybe get some grapes and make my own wine?  Nah, will never happen. 

[Sean]

I have no history on this variety other than I found it in a back alley way a couple blocks from the first place I lived here in Vancouver. I saw a half snapped foot long woody branch with a "Y" at the top, so I snapped it off the rest of the way and then brought it home and stuck it in a 3 gallon pot of soil. It stayed in that pot for 7 years which is likely why it took so long to get to fruit bearing maturity. It is still in a small planter that is 8 inches wide and runs the length of my display pond (9 feet).

I expect it will perform better with fruit yield each year from now on.

Cheers,
Sean