|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
HARDY SEEDLESS GRAPES |
Grapes need a relatively warm Summer and a dry, warm Fall to be really successful. You must be careful selecting your varieties to avoid problems with: a.) poor ripening due to insufficient summer heat, b.)diseases, especially powdery mildew (some varieties are real prone to this during wet Springs & Summers), and c.) winter damage when temperatures fall below about -10. Most acceptible short-season, backyard varieties have been produced over the past 15 years or so out of the breeding programs in New York and other non-Southwestern states. Many of the varieties you are offered in catalogs are edible, but not all are worth growing.
The best all-around seedless grapes I have grown are
1. Suffolk Red, a hard to find variety out of New York's grape breeding program. This variety is very hardy, productive, and appreciated by all who test the fruit. The fruit is sweet and flavorful, with a melting, soft texture, not crisp. It is a pleasant eating experience, but the cluster break apart fairly easily, and the fruit crushes and cracks when piled up, so trasport to markets would be difficult. This one is a long-term back yard winner.
2. Black Monukka, though it is hurt by temperatures that go below -10F, it recovers well and is well worth keeping due to it's very high fruit quality. It is truly one of the best home garden grape varieties for warmer summer areas of Eastern Washington.
3. Interlaken, though an old variety, it is very hardy, productive, and flavorful, and I can't bring myself to take it out. It is still superior to many of the new tough-skinned "seedless" varieties you find in catalogs.
4. Einset, a bit unproductive when young, but quite tasty, hardy, and disease resistant.
Grapes I am testing, but have only the first year fruit results to report (1997 -1st crop): Glenora & Vanessa. Preliminary results:
Vanessa is likely to be a real winner, with good fruit quality, liked by all testers. Fruit, even on two year old vines, was quite good. I expect almost full production in 1998 on the third year after planting. (See the picture of the fruit produced in the second year after planting at the top of this page.)
Glenora is very promising, but I'm not ready to fully recommend it, yet. It has some minor seeds this year, but the fruit is otherwise quite good. We'll wait another season before making any hasty decisions. People who tried the limited production liked it, saying it tasted "like blueberries."
Grape varieties I have pulled after testing: Thompson Seedless, Muscat, Canadice, Himrod, Saturn, Tokay, and several others that failed the edibility or disease resistance test. I have pulled Perlette and Flame due to their all-too-common winter damage. These are quite good if you live where summers are hot and winters are mild, but we're not talking about California here.
Birds:
If you grow grapes, expect birds to love them even more than you do. If you have limited production, you may try wrapping each ripening cluster in an inverted cone of doubled up newspaper, held together by masking tape. My birds got wise to this and started tearing through the paper to get the grapes. Putting a net over the entire grapevine has helped a lot. Purchase netting from a wholesaler, who may sell you a very large roll of wide netting. (My source is IFM, Ohlme Garden Road, Wenatchee, WA 98801) All the net you will ever need to protect your cherries, strawberries, grapes, etc. will cost very much less than if purchased 10 x 20 feet at a time from a gardening supply store.
PEARS - STONE FRUITS - APPLES - IRRIGATION