Planning for spring, advice would be aprciated

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Ok so I've been living here going on two years now. I have a pretty long driveway (200' ish)that is roughly oriented east-west with great exposure to the south. The north side of the driveway has a thick wall of spruce and jackpine that acts as a great windbreak, but in no way shades the south side. Along the south side of the driveway, roughly every 30', I've planted young fruit trees (plums, cherries, pears)

Now in this 30 foot gap between fruit trees, I'm going to place rustic looking wooden arbors, 8-10' long, 5-6' tall and grow grapes on them. If memory serves I have 6 spaces. Most likely a mix of Fosh and/or Marquette. I am not opposed to moving these a few feet to the south so that they are not shaded by the trees as they grow.

My question to you folks is this; How many vines would you plant per section? My gut says 2, but I don't want to crowd them.

The trees are in the ground, and they're where I want them to stay, so how would you set up to get the best production in the space I have available there? This isn't the only place on my property that I'll be growing grapes, but I thought they would make the way up to the house look nice.

 

[salcoco]

with one arbor being 10 ft wide, a plant on each end would work. without the arbor you can plant grapes 8 ft apart. at best this would allow only three plants to fit with the first and last plant 7 ft from the trees and middle plant 8 ft from each end vine.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

So one vote for 2 vines per section? I certainly wouldn't dare 3.

Here are some pictures i found online thatI'm going to base my arbors on, but taller, because I have ducks waddling around my property, and I remember what they did to my blueberries last summer lol



I'm thinking the bottom two rounds about 40 inches off the ground, hopefully out of duck reach the other two rounds near the top.

Pictures are from a blog called weedemandreap, sorry im not sure how to post a link, but just wanted to give them credit, lots of cool stuff going on over there.

 

[Sage]

Personally, I would plant in 2 holes but would put 2 plants in each hole. I use this and have had plants die but you always have a good, live plant going. I then bring up a second shoot from the survivor to fill in. I try to get the new shoot from below dirt level.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Interesting idea. I was going to train two trunks per plant anyway, two seperate plants would offer some extra insurance.

If properly pruned to act like a two trunked vine, do the two vines behave like one, or is there some competition for resources?

 

[Sage]

Competition only occurs if resources are limited. Possibly on water but that might be intentional. Might be competition from the trees also.

I live in an area that gets cold and I can have winter damage. I should have asked that question.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Yeah I'm pretty far north, but there is a successful winery nearby that does well with these varieties, and several others. I think zone 4b/5 depending on which map you look at.

Competition for water might happen, I have no intention of setting up irrigation. As far as nutrients, I have access to lots of compost, duck manure and horse manure, but I recall reading that some of the best vineyards in France are nothing more than rocky dusty fields, so ill go light on fertilizer at least for now

 

[Masbustelo]

I would suggest eliminating the bottom two rails. One is sufficient at the top. The top rail should be minimally five feet off the ground, and train your vines so the new growth trails down each year.