Long story short: I've recently ordered a few plants from a particular online supplier and the plants ended up getting to me in awful condition. They did not pull through, and I got my money back... in the form of store credit, so I have to use it or it's a waste of money. I do not want to but another of the plants that died since they came to me so small and scrawny they weren't worth their price. There's a lot of things I'd like to buy (Looking for something fruiting or edible) but since I'm in Minnesota, it's gotta be in a pot, and many things (like the Hass Avocado I want so badly) do not do well in pots or are more trouble than they're worth.

Grapes came to mind, but I don't even know if that's possible. I don't know much about growing grapes. Can they grow in a nice big pot with a trellis to climb on? It looks like you have to chop them back every year, is that correct? So I wouldn't have to worry too much about the plant outgrowing the pot, save for a root pruning or a repot every few years? Is it even worth it? I love grapes, I'm curious as to how many grapes one plant would give me. Specifically looking at Concord grapes.

I do end up with a nice room with supplementary lighting over winter to keep my potted citrus and bonsai happy, so I could stick it in there, I think... Do they go dormant?

I'd love some of the MN hardy grapes, but I'm limited to what's available to me on the website. At least concords could hang out in my unheated garage or something and be okay, though I've heard they need an early start and ripen late... my other two options are Triumph and Summit grapes, though they're farther from my zone rating.

Once we moved, we put them all in ground, but they will live a long time in containers.

You could over winter in your grow room but I'd allow that defoliation before bringing them inside.

Potted grapes in greenhouse, and much else, in late winter showing vines after pruning on trellis. Trellis could just be stakes in the pot.

I get about 12-15 bunches averaging 15-20 lbs per plant. But to do that you'd need very good light in your grow room and warm full sun in summer. If protecting from freezing in winter plant the best varieties: Flame, Summer Royal, Princess, or Thompson seedless. My favorite Summer Royal. Concord much easier to grow than these.

I ended up going with a Cherry tree, but I still have every intent to buy some grape vines. That means I'm now open to any and all varieties. I'm thinking about getting some kind of Minnesota hardy table grape, just so I don't have to bring them inside over the winter, because wow I have a lot of plants that need to come inside already - and I live in a duplex with 2 roommates!

Fruitnut, I see that your grapes have those long thick vines (canes?) growing along the wires, with new shoots coming out all over them. Come time to prune early in the year, will you cut that new growth down to the thick brown vines again, or do you trim the vine itself? Having a hard time figuring out exactly what I would need to prune and what I would need to keep. I'm guessing what I see is last years growth, with new growth coming from it - that will fruit. I'd like to know when the season is over what you will prune, and how much?

Basically on your potted grape you'd have a permanent trunk. That's the part running from pot up to wire. It's now like one inch diameter not that picture above which was first fruiting yr. From the head of that trunk there will be multiple canes. Keep one or two canes each spring and cut the others off. More grow in summer and repeat.

In a single plant pot with trellis your trunk could be as long or short as you want. You just need room for current seasons canes to sprawl. I'd probably do 3-4ft tall.

Tart cherry - I hear they're *slightly* more hardy than the sweet. My citrus is already incredibly finicky, so I'm hoping the experience there can help me out. From what I understand they're prone to mildew, but I've gotta look into it some more.

And thanks for the Double A recommendation, I found a few varieties that are well suited as table grapes to the bitter zone 3 climate and winters. Can you tell me how large/old they are when I would get them? I can't imagine they'd produce yet this year, but would I get grapes next year? It might say on the website, I'm on mobile so I may have missed it. They're very affordable, too! I'm leaning towards the St. Croix variety.

Edit to add: the wealth of information on their "Learn" area is astounding! There's a whole power point like thing about pruning from just a cutting through the third or fourth growing season. This is exactly what I was looking for.

I've had a Mars grape vine in a 5 gallon bucket since 2012. It produced a few bunches last year, its 2nd year. Here's a pic of it from last week, with more grapes on it. I admit to not taking the best care of it- I haven't pruned it, nor even tied it up. Evidently, some grapes are better at standing on their own than others.

Faith (in the foreground) is the tallest and has reached the 6' top of the trellis.

Jupiter (in the middle) is about 4' tall and has a single bunch of grapes (which I probably should have pruned off, but did not).

Gratitude (in the background) is about the same size as Jupiter.

You can also see the 3 strings which I tried to get the grapes to grow up, mostly unsuccessfully.