Well I think the jury is finally in on my vine cuttings. Most of them looked good earlier but now I think I have just half a dozen or so that are actually growing. The others apparently croaked. I'll try again next year and follow
steev 's suggestion of trimming them down to just one bud. On the bright side and much to my surprise one from the new vines of the variety Edelweiss is doing as well as any of the others.
I got lots of low on the trunk shoots on my old vines so I think I might try the green cuttings method. I'm also ignoring best advice and letting some of my new vines make (just one) small cluster of fruit, they are all so big and healthy I think it will be OK. I'll take any seeds from them and try my hand at sprouting.
I'v been observing the leaf shapes of my vines and all the wild ones that grow around, lots of variation there. Can't help but wonder if it is in correlation to any good or bad traits. Gonna try to keep an eye on some of the wild ones come fruiting time and see.
I'm guessing you're somewhere in the eastern US.
Species you'll commonly find are Vitis riparia (Riverbank grape) and Vitis labrusca (Fox grape). Both have been used in breeding a lot, most eastern US table varieties tend to be labrusca hybrids whilst a lot of wine grapes for growing in the Midwest throw riparia into the mix for it's great hardiness.
Vitis riparia - red leaf stems, red leaf veins, leaves with "spiky" edges to them, deep green leaves.
Vitis labrusca - 3 loved deeply palmate leaves, furry leaves on young plants, thin canes (stems), purple coloured buds in spring.
Vitis riparia pros -
*Hardiest grape species, some selections down to -40c or more.
*Very disease resistant
*Passes good hardiness to hybrids
*Flavours of hybrids are better for wine than labrusca.
*Grows practically across the whole northern US and southern Canada meaning it has many local variations adapted to certain conditions.
*Roots from cuttings easily
*Grows from seeds easily
Cons -
*Small fruit, although this can reach a better size in hybrids. Still hard to get large berries in hybrids for use as table grapes though, they never really get any bigger than Thompson's seedless, although a respectable size.
*Acidity is high meaning the grapes taste sour. Can be bred out in hybrids, although they usually are still pretty high.
*The clusters (bunches) are small and it's strongly dominant. To break the dominance you breed with very large clustered varieties.
*Herbaceous flavour, can be bred out eventually.
Vitis labrusca pros -
*Disease resistant
*Hardy in most of the US.
*Large range with lots of local forms
*Large berries for a wild grape
*Hybrids tolerate disease pressure quite well
*Unique fruity flavours sometimes reminiscent of strawberries or blueberries.
*Said flavours combine well with muscat type grapes to produce quite amazing flavours - see Swenson red.
*Most eastern US table grapes are crosses between labrusca and Vitis vinifera, probably most of the varieties you have.
Cons -
*Those flavours are strongly dominant and not liked in wine by the majority of people (apparently).
*labrusca has a tendency to drop fruit when it is ripe (shattering) although in most hybrids except notably Himrod this has been bred out.
*Grapes can have a musky taste to them which can be hard to breed out.
*Hard to breed for the flavours of vitis vinifera in crosses whilst retaining hardiness and disease resistance. Hybrids that taste more labrusca will typically be hardier and more disease resistant.
*Berries have a thick skin and mushy, stringy flesh although this is bred out in hybrids.
The best species for hybridising with imo is Vitis rupestris although you'll be hard pressed to find it. It's becoming rare.
Hybrids with it and vinifera have the quality of vinifera and the hardiness and disease resistance and tough plants of rupestris. The species has no major faults unlike those other two but it's not common. French used it in their hybrid breeding which is why their hybrids taste closer to classical Vitis vinifera.
Vitis vinifera are European grapes -your standard wine and store eating varieties first. Try muscat types before calling them tasteless though, the grapes you get in stores were selected for shipping ability over flavour.
Vitis vinifera is disease prone and not hardy but has huge variation.
