2019 Update
Well, another year has passed, and I learned a few more things to share about growing organic grapes in Connecticut.
The biggest issue is the Asian Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). Unlike the native fruit fly, this invasive species attacks good grapes which then host larvae - ugh!
Overall, so far, the trials have shown these to be some of the healthiest and most productive vines and tastiest grape varieties:
Leon Millot, for making red wine and jam
Marechal Foch, for making red wine and jam
Oberlin Noir, for making red wine and jam
Wine King, for making red wine and jam
L’Acadie Blanc, for making white wine
Petite Amie, for making white wine
Steuben, for White and Rose' wines, blue table grape and jam
Somerset Seedless, for pink-red table grape and jam
Concord Seedless, for blue table grape and jam, small berries
Spartan Seedless, for white table grape
More will likely be added to this list in the next two years as grape vines I have already planted start producing grapes. Health of the berries and vines vary from year to year which makes evaluation more difficult. Some varieties do not ripen sufficiently on our site which is on a Northern Slope. Southern exposure is preferred, but I must work with the land we have. It appears, I must shoot for the earlier ripening varieties.
Pruning
Last winter I cut all vines to about 2.5’ high so they could adapt to our new training system, i.e. cane-pruned vertical shoot positioning (VSP). So, this year production was very low since all canes from the previous year were cut off. Many had no grapes at all, which I was expecting.
Protection
I experimented with plastic bags over the grape bunches to see if they protect from disease and the Asian spotted wing drosophila (SWD). Plastic bags work great on apples and pears so I wanted to see their effect on grapes.
Results were different on different varieties. In most cases plastic bags delayed ripening by at least a month – not good!
On some varieties, they increased berry size 3-fold in volume (Somerset Seedless, Concord Seedless). This was an unexpected finding. In plastic bags, the Somerset Seedless ripened nicely around Sept 15 with large berries. The Concord Seedless in plastic bags ripened around Oct 1st.
The biggest issue is the Asian Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). Unlike the native fruit fly, this invasive species attacks good grapes which then host larvae - ugh!
Overall, so far, the trials have shown these to be some of the healthiest and most productive vines and tastiest grape varieties:
Leon Millot, for making red wine and jam
Marechal Foch, for making red wine and jam
Oberlin Noir, for making red wine and jam
Wine King, for making red wine and jam
L’Acadie Blanc, for making white wine
Petite Amie, for making white wine
Steuben, for White and Rose' wines, blue table grape and jam
Somerset Seedless, for pink-red table grape and jam
Concord Seedless, for blue table grape and jam, small berries
Spartan Seedless, for white table grape
More will likely be added to this list in the next two years as grape vines I have already planted start producing grapes. Health of the berries and vines vary from year to year which makes evaluation more difficult. Some varieties do not ripen sufficiently on our site which is on a Northern Slope. Southern exposure is preferred, but I must work with the land we have. It appears, I must shoot for the earlier ripening varieties.
Pruning
Last winter I cut all vines to about 2.5’ high so they could adapt to our new training system, i.e. cane-pruned vertical shoot positioning (VSP). So, this year production was very low since all canes from the previous year were cut off. Many had no grapes at all, which I was expecting.
Protection
I experimented with plastic bags over the grape bunches to see if they protect from disease and the Asian spotted wing drosophila (SWD). Plastic bags work great on apples and pears so I wanted to see their effect on grapes.
Results were different on different varieties. In most cases plastic bags delayed ripening by at least a month – not good!
On some varieties, they increased berry size 3-fold in volume (Somerset Seedless, Concord Seedless). This was an unexpected finding. In plastic bags, the Somerset Seedless ripened nicely around Sept 15 with large berries. The Concord Seedless in plastic bags ripened around Oct 1st.
Concord Seedless, shows the effect on this variety of a plastic bag, the bunch on the left was inside a plastic bag while it grew, while the one on the right was exposed to the air. Notice the ones that were in a bag developed much larger berries, while as the same time ripening was delayed by a month.
Brix 16.7 on Oct 1, 2019 |
Somerset Seedless, also had much larger berries as shown in the photo, unfortunately I do not have a size comparison because the ones exposed to air went by before these were ripe. Still these ripened Aug 27th through Sept 15th which is not bad, without a bag they normally they ripen in August. The ones inside the bag were healthier and larger than those outside the bag. This does not hold true for most of the other varieties which have a tendency to rot in the bags, in 2020 I will try paper bags.
Brix 15.2 on Aug 27, 2019; Brix 15.5 on Sept 15, 2019 |
On some varieties the berries did very well in plastic bags (Jubilee of Swenson, L’ Acadie Blanc, Marechal Foch, Oberlin Noir, Petite Pearl, Solaris, Somerset Seedless, Steuben, Wine King, Worden) on others they rotted the grapes and/or caused botrytis (Frontenac, Jukka, St Vincent).
The plastic bags have two small slits on the bottom to allow rainwater to escape. Wouldn’t you know the SWD found their way into many of these bags through those slits and the berries had SWD larvae – gross and ugh!
In 2020, I am going to try paper bags to see if these stop SWD and whether it affects ripening time, and disease levels. Paper bags are sealed all the way around, even through the rains, so unless the SWDs eat through the paper bag, it may work. Previously I found that paper bags do stop birds in areas not netted. However, paper bag do not stop raccoons. The raccoons have no trouble ripping open the paper bags. An electric fence is needed to stop raccoons.
2020
This winter there are plenty of new canes so next year production should be good. This winter, I will also do four organic dormant sprays of horticultural oil then copper (a month apart) to see if that helps with disease and insects. I will also test enclosing grape bunches in paper bags to see if this eliminates SWD infestations, protects from disease, and how they affect ripening time. 2020 should be the year I can eliminate many grape varieties as rejects due to disease and under performance and find out which are the ones that shine. Then I can remove the rejects and multiply those that do best to take their place.
This year’s grapes 2019
These are the vines and berries that did the best in 2019 under no spray conditions, each is quite tasty and have good sugar levels (brix = % sugar), ripening was delayed by the plastic bags about one month in many cases. Productivity is uncertain, as yet, for some of these varieties.
The plastic bags have two small slits on the bottom to allow rainwater to escape. Wouldn’t you know the SWD found their way into many of these bags through those slits and the berries had SWD larvae – gross and ugh!
In 2020, I am going to try paper bags to see if these stop SWD and whether it affects ripening time, and disease levels. Paper bags are sealed all the way around, even through the rains, so unless the SWDs eat through the paper bag, it may work. Previously I found that paper bags do stop birds in areas not netted. However, paper bag do not stop raccoons. The raccoons have no trouble ripping open the paper bags. An electric fence is needed to stop raccoons.
2020
This winter there are plenty of new canes so next year production should be good. This winter, I will also do four organic dormant sprays of horticultural oil then copper (a month apart) to see if that helps with disease and insects. I will also test enclosing grape bunches in paper bags to see if this eliminates SWD infestations, protects from disease, and how they affect ripening time. 2020 should be the year I can eliminate many grape varieties as rejects due to disease and under performance and find out which are the ones that shine. Then I can remove the rejects and multiply those that do best to take their place.
This year’s grapes 2019
These are the vines and berries that did the best in 2019 under no spray conditions, each is quite tasty and have good sugar levels (brix = % sugar), ripening was delayed by the plastic bags about one month in many cases. Productivity is uncertain, as yet, for some of these varieties.
Cultivar (Variety) |
Berry Color, Usage |
Sugar Levels |
Productivity |
Hardiness |
Baltica |
blue, red wine |
15.2 brix, Aug 27 |
too early to tell |
zone 3a |
Concord Seedless |
blue, table |
16.7 brix, Oct 1 |
productive |
zone 4 |
ES-10-18-14/15? |
white wine |
20.5 brix, Oct 1 |
too early to tell |
zone 4a |
ES-10-18-20 |
blue, red wine |
21.7 brix, Oct 1 |
too early to tell |
zone 4a |
ES-10-18-30 |
white wine |
19.4 brix, Aug 27 |
too early to tell |
zone 3a |
Jubilee of Swenson |
white wine |
19.8 brix Oct 1 |
too early to tell |
zone 4 |
Leon Millot |
blue, red wine |
19.0 brix, Aug 27 |
very productive |
zone 5 |
Marechal Foch |
blue, red wine |
19.3 brix, Oct 1 |
very productive |
zone 5a |
Oberlin Noir |
blue, red wine |
19.1 brix, Sep 15 |
very productive |
zone 5 |
Skandia |
blue, red wine |
18.5 brix, Sep 15 |
too early to tell |
zone 4a |
Solaris |
white wine |
17.5 brix, Aug 27 |
too early to tell |
zone 5 |
Somerset Seedless |
pink, table |
15.2 brix, Aug 27 |
productive |
zone 4 |
Spartan Seedless |
white, table |
18.3 brix, Oct 1 |
productive |
zone 5b |
Steuben |
blue |
18.3 brix, Oct 1 |
very productive |
zone 5a |
Wine King |
blue, red wine |
19.5 brix, Sept 15 |
very productive |
zone 5 |
Half the grapes in each cluster were cracked for ES-10-18-30 and Skandia. The grapes rotted in half the plastic bags for Jubilee of Swenson.
Many of the varieties had no grapes this year due to the severe pruning to accommodate VSP training, so that is why the above list is so short. It is also short because I am only listing the best grapes, leaving out those that are not as tasty or vines as healthy.
The Itasca (zone 4, white wine grape) I planted June 2018 is quite healthy compared to many other vines. No grapes yet, of course, but I am hopeful on this one. Harvest is supposed to be mid to late Sept. The leaves are healthy. I must see if the berries stay healthy once it is producing grapes, and how well they ripen.
Below is a table of the evaluation of leaf and vine health on Oct 1, 2019 for all the vines currently in our vineyard.
Some vines were rejected and pulled out previously, after evaluation so they do not appear in this table. A poor rating does not mean as much for the earlier varieties, since the grapes are harvested well before Oct 1. It becomes more important for the grapes that ripen later in the season.
Many of the varieties had no grapes this year due to the severe pruning to accommodate VSP training, so that is why the above list is so short. It is also short because I am only listing the best grapes, leaving out those that are not as tasty or vines as healthy.
The Itasca (zone 4, white wine grape) I planted June 2018 is quite healthy compared to many other vines. No grapes yet, of course, but I am hopeful on this one. Harvest is supposed to be mid to late Sept. The leaves are healthy. I must see if the berries stay healthy once it is producing grapes, and how well they ripen.
Below is a table of the evaluation of leaf and vine health on Oct 1, 2019 for all the vines currently in our vineyard.
Some vines were rejected and pulled out previously, after evaluation so they do not appear in this table. A poor rating does not mean as much for the earlier varieties, since the grapes are harvested well before Oct 1. It becomes more important for the grapes that ripen later in the season.
