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Fruit Growth Stage Reference -- Concord Grape

Grapes - Concord
Dormant No sign of movement here. No visible indication of growth.
Scale Cracked Cracked scale and swelling bud are clearly visible. Scale Crack (SC), is the first visible indication of growth. A small crack occurs between the hard outermost bud scales as the bud begins to swell.
Early Bud Swell Buckskin or doeskin bud During First Swell (S-1), the bud has swollen out of the hard outer bud scale and is globular, light brown (doe-colored), and fuzzy. No green or pink is visible as of yet.
Late Bud Swell Pink colored bud in late swell. When Full Swell (S-2) occurs, the bud has elongated (about 1.5 to 2 times as long as wide) one or more bulges of leaf tissue are visible and appear green or pink. The bud remains closed around the growing point.
Bud Burst The shoot has burst from the bud During the fourth step, Bud Burst (B), the leaves have separated at the tip, usually exposing the growing point. No leaf is, as yet, at a right angle to the growing stem.
1-3" shoots The first leaf has unfolded perpendicular to the shoot. Expanded Shoot (ES) is the final step and occurs when the stem is 4-6 cm in length with 1-3 small leaves at right angles to the stem.
4-8 " shoots 6 inch shoot with 3 leaves out flat Shoots are 4 to 8 inches long. Three leaves are out on this stem and 2 flower clusters are exposed.
10-16 " shoots 12 inch shoot at the 3 leaf stage. Shoots are more than 8 inches long.  Flower Clusters are clearly visible.  Many Growers talk about the number of leaves out perpendicular to the shoot.
First Bloom First flowers opening First flowers open.
Bloom Click here to see a bigger picture. Most of the flowers are open.
Buckshot Berries Small berries about 6 to 8 mm in size Berries are the size of buckshot pellets.
Berry touch The largest berries start to touch Berry Touch or cluster tightening is when the berries begin to touch and it becomes impossible to protect the interior of the bunch from pests and diseases.
Green Fruit Green fruit cluster Berries are green and hard.
Veraison The berries start to soften and change color Berries soften and change color as they begin to ripen.
Colored Fruit gcolor.jpg (12484 bytes) Berries are soft and ripe colored as sugar content and berry size increase.
Harvest Mechanical Grape Harvester, Most juice grapes are harvested mechanically.

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