Concord Grapes for the Home Garden

Virtues: Concord grapes are easy-to-grow fruits with great sweet flavor and many uses. Eat them fresh or use them for juice, jelly, jam or dessert wine. Large heart-shape leaves and twisting branches lend visual interest in summer and winter.

concord grapes

Common name: Concord grapes

Botanical name:Vitis labrusca ‘Concord’

Exposure: Full sun to part shade

Season: Fall, for fruit

Fruit: Deep purple grapes ripen in autumn. They have a sweet flavor. These grapes develop from small, greenish, ornamentally insignificant flowers that bloom in spring.

Habit: Concord grape vines typically grow to 6 feet long with routine maintenance and annual pruning. Left to their own devices, they may reach 20 feet.

In What Zones Can Concord Grapes Grow?

A selection of native American fox grape (Vitis labrusca), Concord yields dark violet fruits with a powdery white residue. Known as a slipskin type, with a leathery outer skin that easily slides away from the inner juicy flesh, Concord grapes contain seeds. This cultivar demonstrates considerable resilience to winter cold when dormant, unlike the more famous European wine grape types. It prospers across the central and northern parts of the United States, and is the most widely grown grape east of the Rocky Mountains.

When to Plant Concord Grapes

Grown for jellies and juices as well as fresh eating, Concord grapes are a well-known American grape variety that is hardy and disease-resistant. Grapes are not the easiest fruit to produce in a backyard garden, but grape vines can be highly productive with proper care and maintenance, which starts with planting at just the right time.

Time Frame

Like most grapes, Concord vines should be planted in late winter to early spring, while they are dormant. Try to plant as soon as the soil has thawed and is dry enough to work with. Fall planting is also possible in warmer areas, but fall-planted grapes are prone to injury from frozen roots and ground heaving during their first winter.