First, I should appoligize for how bad the grammar was in the first post. I guess I was in a hurry LOL. First, I should say the first grape planted, was a himrod ( bred from the north american grape) And the second is Vanessa, which , i believe has a similar lineage as Himrod. The temps since july first have barly dropped below 27C, with the exception of last week, where we had a day at 16C ( a nice break i might add) Im watering deeply, and infrequently. They do get semi shade int he later hours of the day, but they still get the majority o the time with full sun. The soil isnt bad. It isnt extremely fertile, but its decent. I dont use chemical fertilizer, and didnt add compost to the soil when I planted them. But they have nitrofying plants near them. Im thinkin a good top dressing of compost might help maybe? The Vanessa grape, was slightly rootbound but nothing really to bad. The himrod wasnt at all. The spring was a bit cool, and the himrod was outside, (with leaves), when we had some frost, but it was well protected (3 foam seat cushions, and 2 layers of plastic) and the vanessa was planted, something like 6 weeks after. And yes, the heat is a bit different. I live right on the shore of lake superior, and it moderates the temps the closer you are to the lake. My house is roughly a mile away (on flat land i might add) We tend to be humid, and we have lots of days around 30C, and a few weeks above 30 isnt too unusual, especialy in the last 15 years. We get moderate rainfall, and drought in my area is extremely rare, but relitivly short periods of no rain happen ( say a week or 2, 3 is a bit weird). They arent planted to low, there are areas near there which are lower, which collect the water (half intentional), and the soil itself while not draining the best, hasnt drowned Yucca, which IMO are more water sensitive then grapes. Thanks for the responses, and I hope the additional info will help a bit more.

Get Lon Rombough's book, it will give you a basic foundation of knowledge. I have 3'/6' wires and it didn't take me long to abandon the lower wire cordon -- it was getting completely shaded by all the growth coming off the upper one. So I only have one spur-pruned cordon on the 6' wire now. That works OK but it still shades the clusters more than I would like. As Boizeau mentions, downy and black rot are the two scourges of mid-atlantic vineyards. Air circulation is key to fighting them. Scott

L in FL After finishing the sauces, I tried them and the family did too. Surprisingly the favorite one was the yellow that has an almost fruity flavor, the black one has a deep, rich flavor almost smoky and the red one was the least liked even tho it was still packed with fresh tomato flavor. To give you a better advice on the varieties, I would have to know what do you and your family like, big varieties, medium, small, hybrids, heirlooms or a combination. In my house we like a lot of varieties and I always grow a big assortment, small, medium, big. I grow mostly heirlooms, few hybrids. Each season I tried to grow some of the same varieties and some different or new ones. For a cherry the ones that come to mind would be Sungold and Yellow Submarine. For a medium, Jaune Flame, Chang Li For a big variety, Kellogs Breakfast, Pork Chop. The coming season I am growing some new yellow varieties... A past harvest Silvia

Gardenfan: I grow concord grapes. When I plant out young bare-root or potted plants or rooted cuttings, I put in a temporary stake at each plant. Usually a 1.75" diameter wood stake that I get free at work as they burn them as a waste product. I like to prune my vine to only 1 leader and tie it to my stake. My goal is to grow it as a single stem to the top of my 6' stake and remove all side growth except at 3' and 5.5' where my wires are for my grape fencing. I raise mine following a 4 arm kniffen system. Concord can be grown using a 2-arm kniffen, 4-arm kniffen or cordon pruned. All these systems work. I guess the main thing for you to do is to pick out how you plan to prune them and have a decent strong trellis structure to support the weight of the vines. My concords as 4-arm kniffen easily grow canes that are 10'-12' long each year! I have seen people growing concord with 2 stems and that works too. Again the big thing is to support the vine with a strong enough trellis and properly prune so you do not have too much old wood and too many buds. With my system I prune off all canes so the past years growth on the lateral branches are trimmed to a total of 40-50 buds in spring per vine. Where you let your vine branch on the main leader is based on the trellis structure you are using and the pruning method you choose to grow them with. It is not as important as remembering to prune all new wood back in the dormant season so the vine is not too big with too many buds that are allowed to grow and fruit. You will find that grapevines are very forgiving. If pruned wrong they are easily corrected in the following years. Most home growers I know don't even prune them every year. They just let them go. When they get too big and stop bearing lots of nice sized fruit, then they give them a hard shear back to regenerate them (the haircut method). This gives them little to no fruit crop the following year but then they are back in production for a few years until they shear again to regenerate. The BEST fruit will come off of wood from the previous season that is about pencil thickness in diameter. Fatter canes or thinner canes would be more of a priority to remove when it comes to pruning when you have to make a choice on what to save and what to prune.