Can someone help identify these grapes?

turbo

There is no Botany forum here, but can anyone identify these grapes by looking at the leaves and the green fruit. I hope they are nice table grapes of some variety. At least 100ft of the tree-line is overwhelmed by these huge vines, and if I want to pick them all, I will have to use an extension ladder because lots of the bunches are 20ft or more up in the trees. Last year, these vines had no fruit, and this year, they are loaded. I initially estimated that I could get up to 100# of grapes, but after looking over the vines more carefully today and looking up in all the trees, I think it will be more like several hundred lb at a minimum. Thanks in advance if you can make an ID and give me some tips about maximizing my harvest.

Mattara

Let me be the first one to say this:

"There are different types of grapes, besides green and red?"

turbo

Yes, and there are some that are extremely sour, too. These are hard and sour because they are immature, but they are not overwhelmingly tart. The taste is tolerable if you like green apples (and I do), so I'm hoping that they ripen into a nice table variety, like a Concord.

larkspur

Are they seedless?

Schrodinger's Dog

Used to have grapes in my greenhouse, make sure you pick off the weiners(if they're only for eating that is) The other grapes will grow larger and should in theory be more sweet.

turbo

No, there is a tiny cluser of seeds in the heart of each grape.

turbo

What are weiners?

Schrodinger's Dog

small ones, hot dog sausages literally (US slang) But I meant tiny grapes, that will be nothing but sour; get rid of the chaff from the wheat.

turbo

Thanks. I haven't seen any of those. The grapes are quite nice and uniform in size and shape, and there are bunches of them everywhere - up in the trees and saplings, wighing down branches, in the ferns and grass. If they are really tasty, I will either sell or give away most of them, because there is no way that my wife and I can eat them all or use them up, unless I take up wine-making. I've got a pretty tall extension ladder, but I won't be able to pick them all because the vines are swarming up the trees, and many of the bunches are too high.

Schrodinger's Dog

np, but weed them out if you want good eating grapes, because if you don't they'll be good for nothing but dry wine. Less grapes means more sugar in the grape, and thus better for eating. Worked for me but I'm no grape expert, or vineaologist for that matter.

Moonbear

I don't know one grape from another until someone puts the label on the bottle.

But, if they wind up being a bit tart, maybe they'd still make good jam or jelly, and you can get faster results than making wine. Plus, everyone loves a good, homemade jam!

Cyrus

I believe they call those all nautral.

turbo

Thanks. I don't know if thinning is going to be necessary or not. The main stalks are massive and the leaves are thick and bright green, so I'm hoping that they will be able to provide enough nutrition to the grapes to make them sweeten up nicely. When I say "massive" I mean it looks as if they have been there for 100 years - they are big and gnarly and look nothing like the little vines you see in the vinyards. Also, there is plenty of water, with a water table just a foot or so under the surface. Conditions are probably pretty good, too, with very hot humid days the norm this month and predicted into August. I have never had grapes before, although my sister wants some of these. She uses the local wild grapes, and says that if they are tart, she just uses more sugar when making jellies.

turbo

I have found some pictures of grape leaves, and the shape of the leaves resembles some pictures I have seen of Pinot Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc. Frontenac also has similiar leaves, but that seems to be a hybrid and is not consistent with the heavy base vines that seem to have come over on the Mayflower. Also, the unripe grapes are already bigger than the the mature Frontenacs that I have seen pictues of. Still no real luck, though, in nailing it down.

turbo

For a sense of scale, for the ampelographers out there (I just learned that word!) the leaves are typically over 7" in both directions, with three lobes, and the sinus at the stem is not bounded by naked veins, although they have very tight borders (perhaps 1/32"). There are no hairs on the underside of the leaves, and the undersides are quite pale and veiny, although the top surfaces are very dark with a silky texture.

larkspur

Check out this website about wild grapes:

http://www.chateau-z.com/wildgrapes.html

larkspur

Did your grapes stay green or are they turning purple?