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grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Posted by codym17 ia (My Page) on
Tue, Dec 2, 14 at 20:20

Im looking for a good eating grape for zone 4. I have a 15ft space along a south facing brick wall that i believe would be a great spot for a vine. I have raspberries growing there already but from what ive read they will tolerate eachother. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Seedless pink reliance is at the top of my list, but reviews have me worrying about hardyness.

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Not much for seedless zone 4 beyond Concord Seedless. I would get a seeded grape, e.g. Swenson Red or Steuben. Go to double A vineyards and hit the zone 4 checkbox on the left of their catalog and you can see all the grapes that will work for you. They are also the best grape nursery out there so you can feel confident in ordering from them.

Scott

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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cody:

I grow Canadice in zone 5. SE WI. Nice grape and I love the flavor but last winter I had -18 for the low temps for 1.5
weeks. This spring all the tops were dead . Luckily they are propagated from hardwood cuttings. The roots were alive and pushed new suckers. I left one sucker and staked it. They grew to 5' tall by the end of the
season.

Reliance is hardier than Canadice but I have also
had severe die-back on some cold winters as well.

I do not suggest Reliance for zone 4. Actually I do not know of any seedless grapes reliably hardy enough for zone 4 unless you want to bother with taking the canes off the trellis, laying them on the ground and covering them for the winter.

I too would suggest Swenson's Red. Or Edelweiss if you want a hardy white. Edelweiss ripened for me in mid-late
August when I lived in Minnesota. It has large seeds and is a bit bland for my taste but many do like it. Very cold hardy.

I recall Worden did ok for hardiness. Try to select something that will take the cold yet ripen early enough in
your shorter growing season. Avoid Fredonia-it survives the cold but you will loose the flower buds if too cold a winter. Concord survives but may ripen too late to get a decent enough sugar content in far north areas.

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Swenson red is a great grape but marginal in zone 4. I've had it die back to the ground once. It's now trained as two vines, one of which I take down and cover in straw. This spring that 1/2 did far better than the one left up.

Steuben is good, as is worden. Both have been fully hardy for me, but it's always a close thing to get them to ripen all the way before freeze.

Somerset seedless has also been fully hardy and last year was a pretty good test. The berries are small, but very tasty. And it's by far the earliest of our vines to ripen... by a full month. Vigor seems low.

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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I would recommend Somerset seedless as well, no die-back last year saw -20F here. Nice tasty early grapes, vines seems disease-resistant. Easy to manage, not so rampant as some of the concord types.

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Somerset look great but burbee has them rated for zone 5.
How hard is it to pull the vines down from a trellis and cover them? Sou ds tough after a few years...

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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I'm in mountains northern vt. Zone 4a. Last four years have given us a couple pretty good test winters. The somerset has seen no die back. It grows up along the back deck rail and is fully exposed.

Pulling down the Swenson vine is no big deal. You prune it back hard (which you would do anyway but not usually until spring) and drop it to the ground and cover it with mulch...15-20 min of time.
It is then at higher risk of vole damage but so far has not been an issue for me
It does require that you have a bit more horizontal space, so that you can train the main trunk to a low angle as opposed to straight up. I suspect this will. Become increasingly important as the trunk ages and get a stiffer.

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I should add, that I'm relatively new to grapes. But I assume that like trees, hardiness is not entirely about variety, but also fall weather and even soil type.
Somerset has so far proven completely hardy for me, but your mileage may vary

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Check out the cultivar "Ontario" from the 1950's. Works in Winnipeg.

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RE: grapes that will grow in zone 4

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Somerset it is, sounds delicious. Now the only question is should i plant 1 or two vines? Im going to put up a 15ft wide and 12ft tall trellis along this wall in the spring. Thanks for all the help!

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