HORTICULTURE

Grapes

Be sure and check out the new MSU Grape Resources Pages,

Viticulture Information Page has links to all kinds of grape information posted on the Internet. Grape Links Page

Michigan has almost 14,000 acres of grapes. Most of this acreage is located in Berrien and Van Buren counties.  Most of this acreage is Concord and Niagara grapes which are used for grape juice. This fruit is processed into grape concentrate at Welch's Lawton plant in eastern Van Buren County. Most of the remaining acreage is used for wine grape production. Wine grapes are grown all over Michigan. Michigan wineries produce a wide variety of wines, which have won many awards. This sector of the Michigan grape industry is expanding rapidly. The Lake Michigan Shore appellation denotes grapes grown in the southwest region. French Hybrid varieties dominant in the southwest. French Hybrid and native labrusca grapes are better able to handle the changeable southern Michigan winters.

The Michigan Grape Society is a grower organization representing grape growers in Southwest Michigan.  This organization sponsors several education programs during the year, including Southwest Michigan Horticulture Days and the annual Viticulture Day at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center.  These grape pages were developed by a grant from the Michigan Grape Society.

Concord Harvest near Paw Paw

Posted Grape Information

IPM and other Grape Information
Spray Program for Grapes A large file with juice and wine grape recommendations and the reasons why.
Grape Growth Stages used in the Fruit CAT Alert
How Cold Can Grapes Go
Early Spring Frost, April 23, 2002
Late Spring Frost in Grapes (pictures from the 1997 June frost).
Poor Fruit Set Due to Cool Bloom in Grapes (2001)
Thinning Juice Grapes (heavy fruit set in 2003)
Common Grape Diseases in Michigan (E-1732) also available as a PDF File, E-1732 PDF File
Phomopsis is Competing for Your Grapes by Annemiek Schilder
Grape Fungicide Efficacy Table.
Grape Variety Disease Susceptibility Table
Black Rot Infection Table
Think Twice Before Using 2,4-D
How susceptible are grapes to 2,4-D

Grape Insect Pest factsheets
Grape Berry Moth Factsheet,
Grape Mealy Bug Factsheet
Japanese Beetle Factsheet
Rose Chafer article from the Fruit CAT Alert

Articles on grape insect and disease control are posted in the MSU Fruit CAT Alert, the fruit IPM newsletter from the IPM Office at MSU. You can search through old issues by keyword or author.

Horticultural and Production Information
Pruning Grapevines in Michigan (E-1935) (This bulletin is out of print, but it is still a good reference)
Fertilizing Fruit Crops - MSUE Bulletin (E-852) includes grapes.
E-2642 - Table Grape Varieties for Michigan $2
E-2643 - Wine Grape Varieties for Michigan $4
E-2644 - Vineyard Establishment I: Preplant Decisions, $3
E-2645 - Vineyard Establishment II: Planting and Early Care of Vineyards, $5

These publications can be ordered from the MSU Bulletin Office as well as the ones below.

Pest Control in Small Vineyards E-2698 ($2) is an excellent publication. Hobbyists or owners of small acreages of grapes should order it for their library. E-2698-PDF

Growing Table Grapes in a Temperate Climate E-2774 ($7) is excellent. It begins at the beginning and includes everything the backyard or professional grower needs to know about growing table grapes in the Upper Midwest and Eastern United States. E-2774-PDF. I don't think the entire document is available in this file.

Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection E-2930 ($20) 106 pages.  This is a comprehensive look at winter hardiness in grapes.   This publ;ication gathers in one place all the information about cold injury and protection in grapes. 

A Pocket Guide for Grape IPM Scouting in the North Central and Eastern U.S., E-2889. 
This 3.25-inch by 5-inch plastic-coated scouting guide fits in your pocket for easy reference in the vineyard. The 112-page guide is intended to be a field supplement to more comprehensive reference publications and does not include pesticide recommendations. To view sample pages and further description of the guide, visit the publication section of the MSU IPM Program website at:  http://www.ipm.msu.edu; for information on ordering go to:  http://www.ipm.msu.edu/pdf/grapeGuide.PDF 
Many of the pages at 
MSU Grape Resources Pages are excerpted from this pocket guide.

The  Fruit AoE Grape Page has links to many of the same items and a Grape & Wine Production Page that details varieties and acreages from the Michigan Fruit Rotational Surveys. For more complete information on the economics of grapes or other Michigan fruit Industries see the Michigan Agricultural Statistics Service (MASS) page.

Concord Grapes near Lawton

Some Midwest Grape Web Sites

Check out the MSU Grape Resources Pages.

The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program has an excellent site with good information applicable to Michigan growers.  The Finger Lakes region is another major production area in New York.  Bob Pool at Cornell also has a Viticulture Page

Ohio State's Midwest Small Fruit web site is an excellent resource. It has Ohio's pest recommendations for grapes.

In Indiana, Purdue University has the Purdue Fruit and Vegetable Connection. This site has good information and links including the Indiana Wine Council Web Page. Purdue has also posted their Indiana Small Fruits and Grapes Spray Guide as well as the Small fruit recommendations for many other Midwestern states.

Illinois has bulletins on Black Rot and Downy Mildew.   Illinois also has information for Commercial Grape Growers at their Commercial Wine & Grape Site. They have a pretty extensive links page and a good general information page.

New York now has the Grape IPM in the Northeast online.  This is an excellent publication and all eastern grape growers should have a copy. 

Cornell's Fruit Insect Fact Sheets from New York are excellent sources of basic information on many important fruit pests and beneficial insects including grape pests.

The Northwest Berry & Grape Infonet maintained by Oregon State University is an excellent site with lots of good information.

The University of California at Davis, Department of Viticulture & Enology has lots of information on both grapes and wine. This site is also home to the American Viticulture and Enology Research Network (AVERN) web page.

Concord Grapes West of Paw Paw

Comments on this web page are always welcome. These fruit web pages are constantly changing with new additions. E-mail me at: longstr7@msu.edu


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Last modified: March 16, 2008