Will grapes fruit in a container? Yes

If so, how large a container do I need? The bigger, the better, but you should allow the upper limit of container size to be dictated by considering the three-way relationship between, the speed (porosity) of the soil, the plant's mass (size), and the effects of the size of the container.

I purchased a small grape plant (merlot) from the nursery and it does have a few bunches of grapes on it. Will it continue to produce in a pot? It will, as long as you can provide the cultural conditions it finds favorable, the perennial key to most container gardening successes.

Al

This spring, my sister's boyfriend and I dug up an old grape that had been languishing in the shade of two trees. We put it into a bark, pumice, and perlite mix (attempting a gritty mix), and then brought it into the sun after about a week of recuperation. At first we weren't sure if it would even leaf out, due to the rough insult we did to its root-ball. Now, however, it looks to be fine. Lots of new foliage and vines; no sign of fruit yet. Nice silhouette on the left-hand stump, though....

An oak half-barrel would probably be much better for this grape, but we're working with what we've got.
Eventually, the grape might just go back into the ground.

A progression, April 14th - June 4:
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Josh

thanks! I'll keep you posted on my grape

.... hope you do.

Good luck.

Al

Wow, such a nice looking grape plant, thanks for the inspiration. I might just go to a farmer and ask for a grape trunk instead of buying from home depot. Their grape plants are tiny.

I have read that growing grapes is at least 3 years long work. As well every year in late autumn you should cover the vine by the earth-for this you should take off the vine from the trellis and put it into the dug hole beneath the upper earth surface. Do you do it? I myself want to start growing the grapes on my balcony and now I am reading all the possible material on this theme, but still having very many questions.

I took a pic a few days ago. I saw Loori's recent post, so figured I'd add it here.
No fruit yet, but the vines look happy!

Josh

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But what about winter period? Will you take the pot with the vine to a cooler room? If a vine grower doesn't have a cooler room to place the vine pot there, how then the vine should be protected from the winter frosts?

I won't do anything special for the winter. Maybe just slide this container
under some trees to keep it out of the way. The winter is fairly mild here, with
only a few days where we dip into the 20°F's.

You could crowd several large containers together for insulation; you could
wrap the outside of the container with an insulating blanket of some type;
you could situate the container close to a building; and you could even mulch
around the sides of the container with leaves, styrofoam, straw, et cetera.

Josh

Since not so long ago we have been having rather mild winters too with much rain instead of snow, though with occasional colder periods, when temperatures may be lower than - 6 degrees Celsius, at nights temperatures may fall till -15 degrees Celsius on some days. So are you sure that just wrapping the container into some insulating material would protect the vine?Would the vine have well developed grapes? Do you expect to have well developed grapes on your vine?

Loori,
here's the containerized grape, in its second year.
Some of last year's vines were pruned to about four feet long. Now we have the beginnings of fruit.

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Josh

For Lexie, Loori, Suzi, Al, and anyone else still interested....
Year two in the container in a modified 5-1-1. Grapes aren't ripe yet, but they've grown incredibly in one month's time!
Now I can answer the question with confidence: Yes, grapes will produce in containers!

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Josh

Nice! Congratulations on the grapes!

Very nice! My cuttings in their containers are all doing great! Some need new stakes! They've exceeded the height of their stake! I will be pinching clusters for at least 3 years, so no fruit for mine. Just growth. That old vine looks amazing! What kind is it?
Suzi

Hi Josh!
Always interested! :)

Looks great!

JoJo

greenman28

Hi again!

I have seen your last photos of your grape vine and it is so encouraging to see a green cluster of grapes. Could you share your experince on how many clusters you had last summer and if there is enough place for the grape roots in this not very big container? Also I would like to know how the plant survived winter temperatures and how low are your winter temperatures? Thank you.

Can white table grapes be wintered over in an enclosed porch w/o heat?

Greenman28 hope you can update us on your grape. And what is the size of the pot you used.

Dubai, it's a square 5-gallon container, I believe. For best results, use a larger container. This year was the best yet....lots and lots of sweet green grapes.

Josh

That's awesome Josh, I thought grapes would be the one fruit that wouldn't do well in containers. I grow plants both in ground and in containers. I have this vision where all around my house I have plants in containers, preferably edibles. All around the perimeter of the fence/wall I am growing in the ground (still didn't figure if grape will go near the fence). I had envisioned grapes on the patio and thought it was just a dream, but turns out it's actually possible. And I happen to have a lot of containers larger than 5 gallons. Thanks for taking the time to reply and posting real photos with real experience.

My pleasure :-)

Josh

Hard to believe it did so well in that small container - that is the pot you originally potted 2 trunks in, right?
Did you change the soil at all since original potting (I noticed you mentioned 'modified 511' but not sure if that's reference to original mix or you changed it).
Did you do any further root pruning (I guess not since the original 'rough insult'...)
Any fertilizing at all?
I hope you didn't answer these questions before, I read whole thread.

TIA. Rina

Haven't done a thing to it in years, Rina.
This plant resides at my sister's house, and they aren't very keen gardeners. Stuff waits to happen until I insist on it or do it myself. The grape's roots have burst the container at this point, completely split down one side. I fertilize with Osmocote twice a Summer, and I do a few Foliage Pro fertigations when I can.

We're thinking of a place to plant it in the ground.

Josh

Thanks Josh.
Rina