I found these today and was wondering if they are grapes? They were climbing giant trees and it was really beautiful. Didn’t notice the tent under that one until I was leaving. We grew grapes when I was a kid but I never did and I never seen them climb trees like this. Are they even grapes?
Also at the end of the grape forest there was what appeared to be a tent set up right over the river with a herd of goats. I’m thinking the homeless over here are eating goats, fish and grapes. Living the life
They get a lot thicker than that even. They gush sap if you cut them this time of year. It is recommended to cut them out of valuable timber species for Timber Stand Improvement (TSI).
Yup. I suspect once they cover the canopy of a tree with their own leaves they can put on mass pretty fast. Also, unlike the foolish vines we grow those vines put way less energy into fruiting and can put more into growing
It’s close to a old well with a windmill on top, but, is about 200-300 yards from the old house. It’s my dads land, but I want to build my house where the old one is.
I’ve wondered about that too but I would almost hate to cut off such a ancient vine.
At least half of wild grapes will be male & produce no fruit, only pollen. It could be one of several different species of wild grape in Kansas, but the fruit of all is small. Grafting on a established grapevine is somewhat difficult due to high amounts of sap that will bleed for a long time from a established vine when a cut is made. It can be done with enough effort, but it’s not the preferred way to graft grape, which is dormant bench grafting. In dormant bench grafting, neither the scion nor the rootstock has roots, so the vine bleeding & drowning the graft isn’t an issue. Probably best to let the old vine be & just admire it for what it is.
I never knew grape vines were male or female. The wild grapes around here you you’d think they’d be to tart to eat plain, but they are a lot sweeter than the trashy ones I planted from walmart special and trellised😮💨.
It’s mostly just wild ones and rootstocks that are male or female. Most cultivated varieties have hermaphrodite flowers that can self pollinate and grapes have been heavily selected for that trait. There are a small number of cultivated varieties that are female flowered, but not very many. Female flowered cultivars are more common in muscadines as domestication in muscadine didn’t really get going till around 1900 or so, but even most newer muscadine cultivars now have self fertile hermaphrodite flowers. The reason for that is perfect flowered self fertile types are typically both more productive and have a more consistent crop load. Plus you don’t need a pollenizer for them the way females do.
