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native NY wild grapes

leafandlightning

12 years ago

Does anyone know of a book or website that discusses wild grape varieties native to NY, specifically the southern tier region... we have several different types on our property and in the surrounding woods and I would like to know what is what... one seems to be a type of white muscadine grape(basing this off the very fragrant fruit and the thick, almost rubbery skin on the grapes), but everything I have read seems to say that muscadines can't handle the winters here(most of the material I have read puts a lower temp limit for them at 10 F, and it defiantly gets colder than that here)...most people around here call them all "fox grapes", regardless of type...

Comments (7)

lycopus
12 years ago
Wild grapes with larger fruits are likely forms of or hybrids involving Vitis vinifera.

The most common native grapes in NY are Vitis aestivalis, V. vulpina, V. riparia, and V. labrusca. The latter two are quite difficult to tell apart. They normally have small, blue-black fruit, a "foxy" flavor, and usually become more palatable after frost.

Cornell has a website devoted to grape culture but I don't know how useful it would be for identification

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell - Grapes
fatamorgana2121
12 years ago
Howdy from the Finger Lakes! I don't know of such a book, but with the plethora of wine expertise in the area, I'm sure you can find a real, live person to help ID it for you.

I would suggest that you could maybe contact,

The Geneva Research Station: http://cals.cornell.edu/nysaes/

Your local cooperative extension (also via Cornell): http://www.cce.cornell.edu/Pages/Default.aspx

Or even a local vintner/grape grower

Speaking of grapes, had any grape pie yet?!

FataMorgana
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I basically agree with others on this thread that wild Grape vines are native and a natural part of a woodland ecology. If they happen to be damaging a particular specimen, sure they can be hacked, but otherwise I leave them alone. I kinda like the way the vines create a tangle, the birds and other wildlife just love it. On the other hand, I've declared war on the Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) that is a plague in my yard and neighborhood. This non-native invasive vine has laid waste to many native trees, even large ones. I've started carrying a folding saw with me while walking the neighborhood and cutting the large vines. I found one that was over four inches in diameter that was growing up a large dying oak! That baby must have been growing for 40 freakin' years, and nobody ever cut it. Led_zep, I am curious why you need to keep the Gray dogwood under control, which is a native. I would love it if the understory around here included Gray dogwood, now it's just a sea of invasives, mostly Honeysuckle, Buckthorn, and Multiflora rose.
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Iris GW
12 years ago
Can you use the USDA maps to see which ones might be found?

Click on a species and then you can click on the state to see the county by county distribution if it is available (and correct).

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA for grapes
fatamorgana2121
12 years ago
Perhaps. Always worth checking but I have to agree with Lycopus. May be a cross with Vitis vinifera - would make sense given all the vineyards and wineries in this part of NY State. This is one of the great wine producing regions in the US.

FataMorgana
leafandlightning
Original Author
12 years ago
pretty sure it the ones we have aren't Vitis vinifera... they all have fuzzy leaves and there have never been many vinyards in southern Chanango Cty( until the last 10 years or so, that is)... I managed to identify one (the white one I thought might be a muscadine) as a variety of V. labrusca... the vines we have were grown from a cutting my grandpa took from a very old( ie large) vine growing wild just down the road from us, 20 years or so ago...
fatamorgana2121
12 years ago
Ah. It was unclear as to what part of the "southern tier" you were in, parts of it are just south of where I live. Even so, you can probably contact some of the folks I mentioned to get their expert opinions.

FataMorgana
leafandlightning
Original Author
12 years ago
my bad... should have been a little more specific than "southern tier"(it only refers to like, half the state... :D )... and the info/links you guys provided was helpful... that is part of how I learned enough to positively ID the one as a labrusca variety... unfortunatly, I will have to wait till next year to ID most of the others... not enough intact leaves and/or berries left on the others to really let me feel confident in IDing them...

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