Remy: Thompson seedless are naturally small berries. What you are seeing is somewhere near the normal berry size of that cultivar. Commercial growers achieve larger berries by spraying gibberellic acid to first thin the fruit off each cluster and then to plump up the remaining berries. They also use other tricks like girdling the trunk. You could do this. It's not that hard. But it doesn't increase the flavor or sweetness and may do the opposite. Doing a better job of pruning, thinning, and other cultural tasks can increase berry size somewhat if they are limiting factors. Commercially berry size increase is used only for Thompsons destined for table grape use or other special applications like Jumbo raisins. The normal raisins are grown with small berries just like yours. So the vast majority of Thompsons are grown like yours with small berries.

Thank you Fruitnut, I think I have gained some clarity based on your response and on a couple of sites I found after my post. As a newbie to grapes I had no idea what buying a "3 yr old" grapevine actually meant. I was surprised that one site was selling vines in bunches of around 25 with the best prices if ordering a quantity of 50 or more. I was thinking I don't want to start a vineyard; I just want to grow grapes in my garden probably no more than my family actually consumes. The website also had a picture of the grapevines they sell with this excerpt: Grading Standards At our Vineyards 1 yr Extra - These are one year old vines that have made excellent growth the first year. Top growth is 12-18", and they have a heavy root system. 1 yr #1 - These vines are slightly smaller than 1-Extra vines, having 6-12" of top growth with a good root system to support the vine at planting. They represent the majority of the vines available. If I had received these vines in the mail I would have been like what the heck?!#@ and would certainly had been disappointed at the waste of 15.95 per vine. (not that this website asks that much for theirs but that is what I was looking at paying for a 3 yr old vine). I had to take my understanding of buying fruit trees back to the drawing board as a vine is definitely not a tree and though these plants are minuscule they are at least still a plant with roots; a lot of vendors are just selling cuttings I would then need to root myself. I then found a website that pictured more of what I wanted to know with this excerpt: Here is an illustration of two own root, (i.e. ungrafted) vines pruned ready for shipment. On the left is a one-year old and on the right a mature vine. Both types should be allowed a year to re-establish the root system which is pruned for shipment. Note that mature vines loose most of their feeding roots during lifting so they are best planted in November with mycorrhizal fungi applied to the roots to stimulate feeding root regrowth. In the spring, new growth should appear at several points on the head of the plant. Only those shoots required for the framework should be allowed to develop. The image on the left looks like a grape I purchased growing in a 1 gallon container last year from Lowes. The image on the right shows the benefit of getting a mature vine and based on their text I now understand why it will still require a year to bear fruit because most of the feeding roots are lost. I also understand (now) that a 3 yr old vine is only truly a 3 yr old vine if it is in its permanent location with root system intact. I now have a million more questions and questions for the vendor I decide to purchase from. Does the image on the right look better because, as the website says, It is a 3 yr old grape on its own root stock/ungrafted and does that mean I need to make sure the 3yr old grape I purchase is ungrafted if I want it to resemble the picture? This website suggested that it is best to plant a mature vine in November; am I too late to plant in January here in the southwest where it is kind of warm? Is there something I can do to speed the recovery of the feeding root regrowth so that there is the possibility of a small crop this year? The picture on the right is a cane with 2 shoots cut back to 2-3 buds per shoot if I have the terminology right. If I receive a plant like the pictured image, will I get vines on my 2 shoots this year and does that mean I will get 2 vines or closer to 6(a vine developing from each of the buds)???? Don't laugh, each one of you were a newbie at one point too :). My question for you experienced grape growers is what pruning method produces the most grapes? I at first only wanted 2 3 yr old grape vines to grow supported by a small trellis fence in my backyard as I don't have much space. Those two I would cane prune. After finding out that a will get very little fruit, if any, this year I am considering growing more vines and more varieties but I have very little space. If I add more vines to my order it will be 1 yr old vines that I would grow in a raised square foot garden bed with a trellis or as a container garden with a trellis. I understand that limiting the root depth will limit my fruit production. It looks to me like spur pruning produces more fruit than cane pruning so I was thinking that my extra vines that aren't directly ground planted could be spur pruned to offset a bit of the fruit loss from shallow roots. Do you think for those extra vines my pruning method will make a difference?

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

Just returning with an update! The third architect came by and didn't remember the carriage house and wasn't thrilled about the idea of going inside. He went through the spiel of tearing it down and building new versus restoring and we settled on him sending his contractor over to have a look at it. If his contractor said it could be saved, he was in. We tried to work out a time where all three could be there and it just wasn't working so his contractor went alone. He came back to the architect and said I was nuts but the architect agreed to take on the project anyway! I just received his proposal on Friday for approximately $4K and I responded with a series of questions. Provided I am satisfied with his responses, I will sign on the dotted line and we will take the next steps of getting a survey done and sitting down with the zoning officials to figure out how much of my bubble they intend to burst. Additionally, I had another contractor go through that I really hope I get to work with! He was here for over six hours and spent a lot of time in and around the carriage house and was very excited about the amount of material he would be able to reuse. I vomited all of my ideas, dreams and wishes at his feet and, like any respectable contractor genie, he told me that I could have it all! I sent him packing with a 65-page document (half for the main house) that outlines all of the things I would like done, including many pictures, and I'm waiting for his proposal. He would have to be well outside of my budget and completely unwilling to negotiate in order for me not to sign it! If all goes according to plan, construction could begin around the end of July or early August. I will be sure and update this thread when there is more to report!