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A 5-6 yr old Fredonia Grape Vine Never Bears Any Fruits

Sara_in_philly
12 years ago

I have planted a Fredonia grape vine about 4-5 years ago(it was in a big pot for a couple of years before that).

For the last 2-3 years, every spring the grape has lots of flowers, but it bears no fruit at all, absolutely nothing.

I have a blue concord planted 1-2 year earlier (it was in a big pot for 2-3 yrs before that), it has been bearing grape the year after it was plated in the ground. It has been producing 40-50 lb grapes each season for the past few years.

The two vines are 20 some ft away, the soil are the same. they get same treatments: watering, mulching, prunning... The Fredonia vine is as big as the concord. How come the Fredonia still doesn't bear any fruit? Any thing wrong with it? What can I do?

Comments (12)

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Sara, what happens between the flowering and no fruit? Have you observed how it progresses? My guess is some disease is killing off the baby fruits. One other possibility is your Fredonia is in fact some wild grape that is a female and needs a male to pollinate it. If it is really a Fredonia it should not need a pollinator. Lastly you could be looking too late and the birds already stole all the fruits.

    Scott

  • Sara_in_philly
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Scott,thank you for your reply!

    I can't remember whether I looked closely everyday after the flowering. I just remember a couple of weeks after flowering, there was no tiny fruit/buds like the blue concord had. The flower never developed properly into grapes. this grape vine flower every year, but never develpoed any grapes. At the beginning I thought it was because it's still too young, now it it so big, the cane is so thick, there is no more excuse:-)( I do prune it every year)

    I bought the Fredonia from one of the big box stores, sure hope it's not some wild grape.

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Sara, that is probably not a disease unless it came fast and you missed it. Big box stores are notorious for putting any label on any plant, so it could be an ornamental grape, a muscadine grape (which needs a cross-pollinator), or who knows what. If your plant still has some leaves on it I would compare the leaf shape with a Fredonia leaf online - grape leaves are a good ID tool. Overall the odds are high that it is not a Fredonia.

    Scott

  • Sara_in_philly
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Scott, is there a site that shows the leaves of different grapes? I googled image but couldn't find an image of Fredonia grape leaves.

    Here are 2 pictures of the leaves. Do they look like Fredonia to you? I can't bear the thought of having been growing a wild grape for all these years:-(

    Thanks for all your help!

    {{gwi:124080}}

    {{gwi:124081}}

  • trianglejohn
    12 years ago

    I bought two mixed fruiting plant boxes from Sam's Club 4 or 5 years ago. They included Freedonia Grape, Consort Currant and blueberries. All have lived except the blueberries. The grapes were kept in pots until two years ago (I moved to more sunny yard). They were held back by being in pots so long but they have fruited. We've been very hot and dry the past two summers and it affected everybody's bloom and fruit schedule.

  • Sara_in_philly
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I am glad your Fredonia fruited. Do your Fredonia grape leaves look like the leaves in the pictures.

  • trianglejohn
    12 years ago

    Yes they do. I have other grapes and muscadine also. You can usually tell them by the leaves, but in different parts of the country they may look different than mine. My muscadine leaves have noticeable teeth along the edges and almost round leaves. All the other grapes have the notches making the leaf divide into three lobes.

  • Sara_in_philly
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Now, I am really stumped! If the leaves look like your Fredonia, why wouldn't mine fruit? The vine is thick and healthy looking.

  • trianglejohn
    12 years ago

    Your plant looks fine to me. Maybe there is some sort of pest eating the blossoms before they become fruit...

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    It is a bit of a mystery. One other possibility is it is not getting enough sun. There are some bugs that eat blossoms and fruitlets but usually you see damage elsewhere as well, and they usually miss a few. Next year I would look at them more frequently and closely and you should see what is happening. I had some little beetles on my grapes this spring and they ate many of my flowerlets, but they also shredded the leaves.

    Scott

  • Scott F Smith
    12 years ago

    Oops I had beetles a past year, it was little black caterpillars this year.

    Scott

  • Ryan McCubbin
    7 years ago

    How do I tell if my grape vine is male/female it produces little clusters but goes away!!! Please help!!!