February 12, 2018

 I have tried growing grapes on my property. It seems that more years than not I notice the buds start swelling in February. Bad news since the middle of April is our “last” freeze. Or at least,” historically” it is supposed to be.

I have pulled off grape harvests maybe twice since I planted them well over 10 years ago. Not a very good return. So, I have decided to nuke the vines and try something altogether different.

My game plan is to container grow grapes.  I will grow a staked grape in a container and will develop the scaffold on this staked grape. Then each year once freezing is past move it out to a fixed scaffold. As the grape grows it would be wired to the outdoor scaffold. In the fall after freezes have taken the leaves and the vine has gotten chilling (some time in January or early February) the vine would be pruned back and placed in the well house for protection.

This would by no means be for major production but there is the potential, enough fruit for Deb and my use.

I am planning to do something similar with kiwifruit. These are also like grapes in the fact that they quickly get their chill hours and frequently break bud before the last freeze.

I have grown figs in containers and have been very successful. Never producing a lot of fruit but a regular supply.

This does bring up the frequent question that all these plants are very hardy and can takes severe freezing, right?

Yes, this is very true, but it must e mentioned When they are in a dormant state. Once they break dormancy they are as tender as a tomato in freezing weather.

A fellow gardener and I have discussed this subject on many occasion. It has everything to do with our severe temperature swings during the winter. Most places where these fruits are grown go dormant and stay dormant until the spring thaw.

Where Our problem lies is that these plants especially figs and kiwifruit never get into a deep dormant state. Even though the freezes have made the leaves drop they never go into full blown dormancy. This is because (for an example this year) one day we are in the 70’s and the next day it was 18.

It is my thought that the latent and semi dormant buds are activated and frozen during these cycles. These freezes do not kill these plants, but it does burn it back to the ground. Since these fruits all bear on two-year-old wood they always remain in a vegetative state and never developed two year old fruiting wood.

My desire to have fruit gives me the drive to see if this will work. Won’t know until I try. Could be more work than what it is worth, unless I try I will never know.