Almost time for Raisins!

[Sombeech]

I've got 3 vines, 2 different types of grapes.

2 vines are Suffolk grapes ---- DELICIOUS pink seedless. Decent in size. Great for snacking right off the vine, delicious grape juice, and awesome raisins. These mature later, in @ another 2 weeks.

1 vine is newer, I can't quite remember the name though, maybe American Red Seedless... These mature faster, are smaller, and are pretty decent tasting. I prefer the Suffolk though.

I decided to pick the ripe smaller vine the other day to make raisins in the dehydrator. I totally screwed them up. You're supposed to boil them for about 30 seconds to get the wax off the skin, but I "brought them to a boil" instead, breaking the skin open.

Oh well, this was the smaller vine, and I'll have 2 giant cooler fulls of Suffolk grapes - coming up.

[Sombeech]

btw, every version of the grape is off my diet right now.

[Felicia]

btw, every version of the grape is off my diet right now.

You can make wine! Wine is on your diet.

[Scott P]

btw, every version of the grape is off my diet right now.

I'm curious as to why? Is it the sugar in the grapes? I thought grapes were good for you?

Just wondering because I eat so many of them.

[Sombeech]

I'm doing 20 grams of carbs per day. And my bet is Wine is full of carbs.

Yes, it's the sugar in the grapes. Not that grapes are bad, I'm just on a pretty strict diet right now. Luckily the raisins will still be around when I lift my carb limit.

[Sombeech]

OK, I picked some ripe grapes from my favorite vine, and didn't screw these up so far. I plucked the grapes off the vine first, then put them in boiling water for @ 30 seconds.

Just starting out with @ 20 clusters. I'm thinking it will be 2 days for raisins.

[Sombeech]

only @20 hours later.

[DiscGo]

Those raisins actually look really good. How are they compared to store bought raisins?

[Deathcricket]

Awesome man! I'm always jealous of those huge harvests you get going up there. Must be too hot down here I guess. Not having much luck.

Anyways, you rock!

[Sombeech]

These are much sweeter than the store bought raisins, those are made mostly from the green grapes.

It gets pretty hot up here too, but I've got my misting system you can see, the light tan flexible pipe going along the perimeter to keep things cool.

[Heather]

*DROOL* Those look amazing!!!

I'm SO jealous right now! :)

[cachehiker]

These are much sweeter than the store bought raisins, those are made mostly from the green grapes.

Even the ones I've made from my green grapes are sweeter than the store bought ones.

What I need is to build an arbor like yours and find somebody who really knows how to get these old vines of mine producing again. A big steak hot off the grill would be included in whatever bribery was necessary to accomplish such a feat.

[Sombeech]

What I need is to build an arbor like yours and find somebody who really knows how to get these old vines of mine producing again. A big steak hot off the grill would be included in whatever bribery was necessary to accomplish such a feat.

How old are your vines? Are they still producing leaves?

My Pergola is 14' square, 9' high. It's a simple design with 2X4s criss crossing. I didn't do any fancy shapes on the edges because I knew they'd be covered up by leaves anyways. The corner posts are treated 4X4s, concreted in the ground.

Probably cost about 200 bucks for materials.

[cachehiker]

I have seven vines and they're all a decade or more old. I've only ever had one good harvest. As far as I can tell, they're Thompson seedless and require cane pruning. This year the Robins got some so I only came away with a dozen bunches, maybe 3-4 pounds.

I've been reading a lot about them lately though and I finally think I've gotten the whole cane pruning technique worked out. Problem is these vines were only sporadically pruned for the five years or so before I bought the house so they won't likely ever be anything but a mess. My last two attempts at pruning were haphazard at best but I'll do better this year.

They're also located against a brick wall that leaves them terribly susceptible to long hot summers when I can't water as much as I'd like too. I suppose you heard about the canal break up here. They didn't go so far as closing my headgate but they did divert a lot of our water to compensate. Yep, the fees associated with my water rights are going to go up, ... way up.

What I really need to do is start over. The freehanging deck outside the upstairs patio door needs to be demolished and rebuilt with an arbor alongside it and a stairway that winds its way around and underneath. I'll finish by planting new vines next to each of the posts. Have any recommendations?

[Sombeech]

Maybe it's the PH of your soil? Try it with some ph strips.

I also prune mine each year, I probably remove @1/3 of the vine, just cutting back to the older thick vines. This will produce bigger grapes.

I feed them a lot too. You might possibly look into some root stimulators.

[Sombeech]

Gotta pick a WHOLE bunch more today