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Step 1 - Choose a type of grape you'll grow. Before you make any finalizations, factors to consider include climatic and soil conditions in your area as well as your purpose for planting the grapes - whether they're for making wine, jelly, juice or for mere snacks. Once you've though about these factors, you can already go to a local nursery to choose the grape variety suitable to these location and needs.
Keep in mind that there are varieties of grapes that don't start producing until 2 to 4 years from being planted. You really need to wait to see the results.
Step 2 - In handling grape rootstock, don't let their roots dry out. In cases wherein you've bare rootstock and you can't plant the vines once you get them, what you can do is to put these roots in a bucket of water and then soak them. However, never soak them for more than one day. This can ruin the roots and they won't grow anymore.
If you won't be able to plant the grapes for more than one day after you bring them home, just dig a shallow trench where you can temporarily bury the roots. This is a suitable storage area until planting time. You only need to keep their roots moist.
Step 3 - Plant your chose grapevines. You need to give them spacing like about 8 to 10 feet apart. Moreover, place then in rich, well-drained soil. As a note, grapevines thrive in rock or sandy soil. This means, they actually grow where other crops cannot.
Step 4 - For grapes to thrive and grow, they need a location that has good drainage. This is also why rocky, sloping land is suitable. Grape disease can affect your grapes if you plant them in bottom land without any drainage. This makes drainage the key point if you want to successfully grow grapes.
Step 5 - Grapes, just like other plant need water to grow, especially on the first couple of months they were planted. To do this, water the young grapevines after planting by soaking their entire roots. As much as possible, keep these roots moist throughout the entire month. Doing so will help their roots settle in and then establish themselves. As a result, you'll have healthy grapes.
Step 6 - To grow grapes, you also need to cultivate a large-sized area by the base of the plants. Remember, the roots of one grapevine can actually spread out about 3 to 6 feet from the plant's base.
Step 7 - In the first few years, check the leaves if they're colored dark green and healthy. This means, your grapevines are receiving ample nutrients. However, if your vines don't seem to be receiving nutrients and the soil seems poor, what you can do is to add 6 inches of compost along the base area of the plant. This can help improve the soil - adding valuable nutrients to it and ensuring healthy growth for your grapes.
Step 8 - Last but not the least, to grow grapes, you also need to train your grapevines over a trellis. Though this can be tricky, you can just move them as often as possible during the first season. Later on, they'll be able to grow in the right direction and they'll be a lot easier to maintain.
