My seedless concord has gigantic leaves - and it’s my most vigorous vine. I’ve actually never seen a grape with such large leaves. Is yours the same as well? I received mine from Trees of Antiquity. It hasn’t fruited yet.
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My ‘Reliance’ are fantastic. Earlier in this thread I reported I had tasted Reliance at a friend’s and it was so spicy it really did surprise. As you all have stated since, it is an excellent flavored grape. First impression was not so favorable. Second impression is wow. Mine are so ripe they are like sugar drops.
Dax
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It’ll be awhile before my grapes are ripe – they are just starting to “lighten”, no color yet, but I like to read about those who are eating ripe grapes already. Helps me to anticipate! We had a frost last night, and likely tonight (and 34 the previous night) but we covered and all is well. Put a temporary rail across the top of the trellis posts and raked the mulch out so the ground could help keep the canopy area warm. Covered with a mid-grade large poly tarp staked out at the bottom. It was easy and worked. Not a big difference in temperature out vs in (30 to 33) but I think it helped. Sure felt cozier inside. This is a fairly new plot and I spaced vines closer than usual so we could cover.Takes a bit more summer pruning on the vigorous vines but it’s worth it.
Now I hope for a Nice long warm fall for ripening!
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Frost in nearly the middle of summer! At least you won’t ever have be concerned about Pierce’s disease. Please send some of that frigid air down my way this winter. Pierce’s has got me to thinking that I need to get out of grapes and go to muscadines.
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It feels like a fall day here.
All my Reliance are picked. Excellent fruit. Hope to expand my grapes some and try a few others in the years ahead.
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Valiant grapes picked last weekend… My dog insists on being in photos!
Swenson Red starting to ripen, this was taken a couple weeks ago.
BTW is there a chemical that works well to keep yellowjackets/hornets from eating grapes? Every year I have a major problem with them attacking my grapes once they get sweet!
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nice dog. check with your local hardware store they carry yellow jackets spray, trap etc.
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Yes it’s got lots of huge leaves! Ive frequently thought of making Greek food with the leaves. The problem with this grape is the grapes do not all ripen at once but the good part is there are lots of them. We will get several gallons today of grapes and of course they need picked from the stem which takes lots of time. Great choice of grapes to grow!
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Glad to see someone else growing Chambourcin grapes and enjoying them. I put two vines in as rooted cuttings last season and even after thinning the bunches of these first year vines by 50% I still took several kilograms of delicious fruit off them. They are simply amazing. Small berries but incredibly refreshing and moreish. If I had more room I would be putting in more vines for sure.
Annie, did you get much fruit off your vines? Your berries appear larger than mine but mine seemed more tightly packed.
Chambourcin on left, Isabella on right.
Mick
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Mick, mine are about same size as yours. It seems that they are much packed on the shoulder and loose packed near the end. Although I had already harvested some,my grapes aren’t fully turned dark yet. I want to let then stay on the vine as long as it can if birds won’t pick them all. This variety is winter hardy to Chicago, and is productive with small and sweet berries. I enjoy eating them fresh as well.What kind of wine are you going to make?
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Annie, although I would really enjoy making wine with these grapes the reality is that I have a history of not giving the brew the time to mature as shown by the many occasions of brewing mead that didn’t sit in the flagon long enough to show its real character. Besides I enjoy eating them so much.
I am growing mine in sub tropical Queensland on the east coast of Australia so I am somewhat surprised that they do well in north US where I understand that it gets pretty cold. They certainly seem to be a versatile variety. We are coming out of winter (lowest temperature 43f) and all my vines (6) are still to break dormancy. Still we should be eating grapes in the early new year.
Are you growing other varieties? I have Thompson seedless and Isabella. The Isabella ripen unevenly but the berries on the individual bunches of the Chambourcin all seem to come on together.
Mick
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Mick，you are in one of the best place in Australia. I used to having a friend lived in Brisbane and I almost visited that city, a beautiful city with river cross in middle of the city.and it is closer to golden coast. Although, I have been visited many countries.but that part of the world I have not yet visited, still on my calendar.
I have 5~6 different types of grape plant. As you have mentioned, Chicago is very cold in winter time, not all grapes can survive the harsh winter here.so I grow hardy varieties like reliance, stuben, Niagara , villiant etc. Birds and small animals end up harvest most of the grapes for me. But it is OK. I enjoy grow the plants more than having a big harvest.
Australia wine industry is catching up, the climate there must be suitable for grape to grow. If you like eat grapes fresh you might want to select something that is seedless, with bigger size berry
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Annie, the closest I have been to Chicago is Toronto when my sister lived there about 30 or so years ago. We had Christmas with her and I remember the awful cold.
In Brisbane grapes have to deal with our humidity in addition to the birds and other nuisance pests so I bag my fruit to harvest as much as possible. My vines are still young so I save as much as I can. I tend not to worry about eating seeded varieties as for me the flavour is the crucial component in addition to the capacity of the variety to cope with our humid climate. There are a lot of grapes grown in the southern parts of Oz from the east coast to the west and much is used for wine making.
Mick
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Glad to hear the rest of you say that “seedless” is not always so. I had my first harvest of Concord seedless, all with seeds, and just assumed that it was a mislabeled regular Concord.
Do you think the seeds will probably go away with time, or should I just get used to it?
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Tjasko,
Chances are if your weather is severe the seeds are here to stay. In Kansas we get seeds every year.
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What do grapes consider severe? This has been a pretty nice summer from my perspective.
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Extreme weather of any kind. It doesn’t take much. We always have warm summers. This article is not always true in my area Seedless Grapes. Concord seedless Grapes are the same size here as normal concords. Clusters are fairly small. The grapes ripened at the same time this year. Flavor is not better and problem worse. Overall great grapes!
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My Swenson Reds are just starting to turn. I tried two of the pinkish colored ones and they were so sweet, I cannot imagine what ripe one tastes like. No wonder Scott Recommended them.
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Most of he concord seedless are finishing ripening. Since the berries ripen over 1-3 weeks on the main crop I had to plan to pick these 4-5 gallons at a time. There is a smaller later crops in Kansas most years but it won’t be more than 30 clusters.
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One of my favorite grapes. My hedge clipper, whacked my vines to death this past spring removing all of the flowers. I will have to admire yours!
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