How to grow grape vines from seed? 🌱 🍇

[nelsonic]

My favourite grapes are an Heirloom variety that are increasingly difficult to find/buy because they have seeds. I have picked and eaten them several times and they immensely flavourful!

In Portugal these grapes are colloquially referred to as Uva Americana because they are thought to have originated from the east coast of the USA.

According to wine historian Edward Hyams and wine expert Jancis Robinson, "There is ample evidence that the labrusca was growing wild in North America before Europeans arrived."

The scientific name for these grapes is "Vitis labrusca", "Vitis" meaning grapevine and "labrusca" meaning "wild". Apparently these grapes are the closest thing to "wild" that we get in Europe now ...

Vitis labrusca are high in potassium, magnesium, folic acid e vitamin B6, flavonoids e resveratrol. Ref: https://lifestyle.sapo.pt/saude/saude-e-medicina/artigos/uva-morangueira

Most city-folk - that have never picked a grape off a vine - have grown accustomed to seedless grapes so producers focus on them. I get it. Seeds are annoying. But genetically modified (or selectively bred) monoculture is worse. This last time we found the grapes for sale at the local market, I saved as many seeds as I could; 56:

If even 10% of these seeds takes and we're able to plant out 5 vines it would be more than "enough". But however many sprout & survive is great.

If you're new to Grapes, it's a fascinating topic there are hundreds of varieties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_grape_varieties I don't drink wine so while I have superficial knowledge of varieties I don't deep dive into any I don't like. But some day I would love to do a grape-tasting with as many varieties as possible to see what I'm missing.

Todo

• [x] Research how to grow grape vines from seed. 🔍
• [ ] Soak the seeds or sow them directly. 🌱
• [ ] Wait patiently and Tend to the seedlings for as long as it takes for them to transplantable into the ground! ⏳

This looks like a good starting point: https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Grapes-from-Seeds

[nelsonic]

Looks like it's not the "right" time of the year to be doing this ... 🙃

Need to prepare the seeds by checking their viability. Wash them in distilled water and then "stratify" them in the fridge over winter ... 🥶

two to three months ... ⏳ 😮 I recently saved a reusable (takeaway food) plastic container that is perfect for this. 🍜 So I'm going to spend T10m preparing the seeds now. 👌

[nelsonic]

Scratch that. It's a "no noise time" activity. Shelving it for when I can't make noise in the house! 👶 😴 ⌛