# Wild grape & wild plum questions



## CarolynRenee (Jan 30, 2008)

We have a lot of wild grape & wild plum trees around here. Made my first grape jelly last week. Going to do the plums sometime this week. Anyhow...

Of course, the largest clusters of grapes seem to be almost in the tree canopy, the vines growing up to almost 30' up in the air. Can't get to those; bummer. But was wondering if I could cut the main vine down to about 3' or so & then train the new growth to a more suitable height so I can harvest them next year. Will it kill the plant to do this?

There are a few plum trees that have really big (for wild, that is) plums on them. Should I save the stones from those trees for planting, or should I save the stones from a more healthy looking, smaller fruited tree? I'm sure that soil & sun conditions will effect the size of the fruit, but does planting a bigger plum seed give you a tree with bigger fruits?

Thanks all!


----------



## lisa's garden (Apr 1, 2010)

The grapes have larger, nicer fruit at the top of the trees because they get more sun there. So if you want to prune a vine back and still get nice fruit, it will need to be in a spot with more sun at the base of the plant. You could potentially take cuttings next spring and plant them somewhere with more sun...but it may take 2 or 3 years to get much fruit. You can also propagate by running the vine (still attached to its roots) along the ground and burying the vine under a bit of soil to grow new vines from each 'node' (spot where the leaves grow out from the vine).

As for the plums, it is hard to say which ones to grow for new trees. If the larger ones are larger because they have more sun and nutrients, then the pits probably won't grow much better than the smaller ones. Maybe you could try some of each and then decide which ones you want later.


----------



## CarolynRenee (Jan 30, 2008)

Thanks for the reply!

I think I'll try cutting back some of the grape vines & running them along the ground & topping it with some soil to see if that will make a difference for next year. 

I guess I'll just plant a bunch of the plum seeds & see what happens. 

I don't want to take too much time with these wild plants as I'd rather use that time to take care of domestic & better producing fruit trees, but I figure if it's something I can do pretty quickly & without much maintenance, why not, right?


----------



## Ray (Dec 5, 2002)

I've always found that wild plumb jam and the wild possum grape jelly is far superior in taste to tame. maybe its because I was raised on them and thats why I like it more but everyone else says the same thing too soooo? best wishes, ray


----------



## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

We used to pull on the vine to shake them off and pick them up. Wish we had them here. Good luck with them. I have taken grape vines and broken them and putting the broken place in a 5 gallon bucket with good soil until it rooted. Then you have a two part vine. Sam


----------



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Plums this time of year? 

The wild plums here get ripe in late Spring/early Summer.


----------



## CarolynRenee (Jan 30, 2008)

Well, the plums are all about gone now.  
Didn't get time to harvest more than a couple handfulls.....just put it in with my grape jelly.


----------



## BeeFree (Feb 23, 2004)

When I was a kid I could find wild opposum grapes ever where in the woods. Now there is only 1 place that I can find them and the animals usually beat me there.


----------

