Hi belgianpup If you are already growing other grapes, then perhaps you donÂt need the wild ones. For me, I still have to fill/level the area of my yard where I plan to grow my domestic grapes. But, lucky for me, I found a wild grape vine growing on my property. My guess that it would be a wild Concord of some sort. Yes, their a bit tart. Yes, they have a bit of a thick skin. Yes, they have a big seed sack in the middle. Yes, the first time you try them, youÂre not sure if you like them or not. But now, my family and I really like them. We eat every last one that it gives us and wished there were more. IÂve also found the same grapes on a nearby island in our lake. I believe they are the same and are equally good. The flavor reminds me a lot of that of wine no surprise there. We also eat our fresh cranberries and currents too, so if youÂre not as adventurous as that, take my advice with a grain of salt. HereÂs a pic. -Glenn

I have this exact kind of grape vine in my backyard. It is sour when mature but tolerable. I prune it back to a stick in the winter and it'll grow to the same size next year very quickly. Grapes seem to mature at around Aug here in Yuma, AZ.

Rubythorne, where in MO are you? In SE MO (bootheel, my youthful home area), there is a wild grape (Vitis rotundifolia), commonly called Muscadine and/or Scuppernong grape, that are very sweet and are used extensively in the SE US for jam, jelly and home wine making. They are a fairly tender species and probably wouldn't survive if winter temperatures fall below 0F for a length of time. Many wild grapes are dioecious, requiring male & female vines, usually within 25 ft. of each other. Some selections and hybrids have been bred that are monoecious (hermaphroditic), having male & female flowers on the same plant. These are one's that are usually available from nurseries. Good luck on your quest!

Congatulations Mike,it's just so much sweeter to find a nice plant already in your yard than importing somthing to plant. I'm no grape expert either but I try my best until one arrives. Are you 100% certain the vine hasn't been there all along? That's important to know because almost all desirable grapes are grafted and you mustn't ever cut it off below the graft . Regardless of other considerations you should remove most top growth once vine is dormant. This is will give you a general idea and hopfully an expert will come by and give the actual instructions. You will need two sturdy 5' tall posts 15 feet apart with vine roots centered between posts. Two wires stretched post to post at 3' and 5' above ground. The goal is to train a single leader(trunk) from ground to top wire with 4 branches reaching down wires. Grapes produce best on last years growth so choose this years growth to train on either wire to produce next years crop. Hopfully one of the 8 vine(branches) can be tied up to form a single trunk from which all future growth will origionate from. The wire that remains vacant after tieing young growth on other reieves 2 healthy branchs,one going right,one going left. These last two branches are cut 6 inches to 1 foot with 1 to 3 healthy buds on each and all remainig branches lieing on ground are cut flush with central trunk or ground. What you should now have is two young limbs 3 to 8 feet long tied to upper or lower wire plus 2 stubs with buds on other wire. Dormant season 2015/2016 the 2 year old branches are cut back to a few health buds and 1 year old branches are miniumaly groomed and left to bare fruit in 2016. You will have fruit on one wire each year while the other wire grows vine to produce following year. It seems odd to cut away more wood than you leave but the fruit will hang thick and heavy on less wood rather than scatered amoung a bunch of long vines.