Looks like I have a couple of volunteer grape vines growing from my Concord grape. Must have missed a few grapes during the harvest lasts year and these fell and grew.
My question is do grapes, and Concord in particular, come true from seed? If so I’ll dig up these volunteers and give them a place to grow out.
Why not try them. Even if they are garbage you can graft something else to it.
Wild grapes are obligate out-crossers, so they do not come true from seed at all. Seedlings from self-fertile grapes are often less vigorous due to inbreeding depression, but sometimes they can be superior, like Sunbelt, which is a selfed seedling of Concord.
‘Concord’ is a hybrid so I would expect a wider range of variability in its offspring than would be expected from a pure species form.
Concord is also heterozygous for the white fruit allele, so about 1 in 4 selfed seedlings will have white fruit. 1 in 4 on average will also be female flowered, as it’s also heterozygous for self-fertility.
Thanks all. Sounds like it would be worthwhile saving this volunteer, if only to see what it ends up producing. I will dig it up and pot it (it came up inside the GH), and transplant it outside next spring.
Any update on your grape from seeds?
I’m sharing my result on growing grape from seed. About 2 years ago only 1 grape vine popped up from seed. It was the lucky one of all the seeds that was scattered on the boat garden. I planted it on a different location that same year. The seeds is from Giant Red Globe Grape. I like this grape because it’s super sweet, juicy, and the giant size. This is the only grape that I will eat from seed. It survived the 1st Winter and the 2nd Winter. This year it gone wild with it’s growth. It actually produce grape fruits. It’s still the same red color grapes as the parent. It’s sweet, however the size is small to medium grapes. Hoping the size will change over time. The skin is light with no bitter taste or any concern.
I will need to check. I ended up not planting the volunteers here, but gave them to neighbors. Things grow quite a bit slower up here, so likely will be another year or two before any results are in.
