Growing Grapes in WV - West Virginia Department of Agriculture

or medium vineyard is to use awire or cord marked by a knot atthe desired intervals. By simplymoving the ends of the line overthe distance between rows, smallmarking stakes can be driven atthe knots and the vineyard laid outquickly. Some growers prefer tomark off the outside rows with fivetosix-foot uprights, turn furrowslengthwise and across the field,and set the plants at the intersectionsof these furrows. Othersprefer to sight between outsidestakes. Whatever method is used,it is essential that the vines be setin sufficiently straight rows so thatthey will not interfere with culturaloperations after the trellis is inplace. Adequate headland must beleft at each end of the site for trellisanchoring and equipment turning.The rows should run northand south unless there is a goodreason for doing otherwise. Thiswill lead to better light exposure,drying and disease control. Therows should not run at right anglesto strong prevailing winds thatmight cause damage by whippingthe shoots about. The vines shouldfollow the contour of a fairly steepsite, or at least run across the hillrather than up and down.At convenient intervals a rowshould be left out to form an alleythat will facilitate harvestingand cultural operations. The alleyshould divide the vineyard intoblocks about twice as long as theyare wide. If the field is long, 25-footcross alleys at 1,000 foot intervalsare also desirable to facilitate harvestingand fertilizing.In West Virginia, grapes should-8-generally be set in early spring toavoid winter kill of fall set plants.Care should be taken to see thatthe plants do not dry out. Whenthe plants are received from thenursery, the bundles should beopened and the roots soaked forseveral hours if they seem dry. Ifthe ground is not prepared andcannot be prepared within a dayor two, the young vines should beheeled in or held under refrigerationuntil ready for setting. Whencarried to the field, they should bekept in a pail of water or a wet sackand should not be dropped far infront of the planters. Damaged andexcessively long roots should bepruned back before a vine is set.A crew of four persons shouldbe used for setting grapevines ifpossible - two to dig holes, one tohold the vine and tamp the soil,and one to backfill. The holesshould be wide enough so that theroots can be spread out and deepenough for the vine to stand a littledeeper than it did in the nurseryrow. Make sure the graft union isabove ground if grafted plants areused. A little surface soil should beplaced around the roots in the bottomof the hole, and the soil shouldbe firmed as the hole is filled into ensure good root-soil contact.Fertilizer should not be placed inthe holes. After planting and afterdanger of frost, the vine shouldbe pruned to one strong, two-budcane.Most grapes are self-fertile andbear well in isolated blocks, but afew, for example Brighton, requireinterplantings of pollinizers suchas Concord.