Apr 7, 2007

Oregon Nurseryman Promotes Table Grapes in Winegrape Country

Imagine a vineyard open house in Oregon without winegrapes being the star of the show.

Well, that’s exactly what Oregon nurseryman Ray Ethell had in store for visitors to his first annual Table Grape Day in September.

Ethell, who operates Broadacres Nursery in the central Willamette Valley, has been evaluating 35 varieties of seedless table grapes, many of which he feels can add a new dimension to Oregon agriculture at a time when growers are looking for profitable alternative crops.

He’s working mainly with seedless grape selections from New York, California and Arkansas.

While the New York and California varieties have been around awhile, the Arkansas selections such as Neptune, a green grape, and the blue/black Jupiter are still under patent.

Of the 35 varieties being scrutinized, Ethell said he hopes to come up with at least six to eight that will have a good fit west of the Cascades.

“What we are doing is seeing what will work, what the problems are and what the different personalities are,” he said.

During Table Grape Day, visitors to Ethell’s mother block of seedless grapes had a chance to taste several varieties and order a limited amount of most of the vines for sale.

Next year, he will not only have a better picture of what’s working and what isn’t, he will have more material available.

“I want to see a good crop, particularly of the California varieties, and see how they hold up in our environment before I can recommend them. Next year, we should have a good crop on all but four varieties, which were planted this spring.”

Growers wishing to order material for planting next year can choose from grafted, certified, containerized stock or budwood. Ethell’s wife, Sandra, supervises grafting operations. The nursery will graft to order only.

Containerized stock, which is potted in three-inch liners, will be harvested as budwood in December and January and Omega bench grafted before going into the liners.

Potted vines can be transplanted in the vineyard during the spring, summer or fall.

Self-rooted vines will eventually be available for use in colder climates where frost can be a problem.

Ethell sees several opportunities for seedless table grapes in the Willamette Valley and elsewhere in the Northwest.

Two outlets would be farmers’ markets and roadside stands. Supermarkets are another possibility.

Ethell believes seedless table grapes should also catch on with home gardeners.

And then there’s the processing sector, where growers can have their grapes made into preserves, juice, raisins and even pies.

One fresh market opportunity falls between the first of September, when California ships the last of its fresh market grapes, and the first of October, a month and a half before Chilean grapes begin to appear in supermarkets.

“There’s a market window in there that we could probably hit,” Ethell said.

He’s also keeping his eye on an older New York variety called Interlaken, which is ready to pick at the end of August.

The New York varieties are not at all new to Ethell. He worked with many of them when he was the farm manager and a small fruits technician at Oregon State University’s North Willamette Research and Extension Center near Aurora.

Ethell planted his mother block in two stages in 2004: one in June, the other in September.

In some parts of the block, five plants per variety are grown. In other rows, fifty plants per variety are growing.

Some of the year-old plantings have shown very good fruit production.

“They rival what winegrapes will do in three years,” Ethell said. “The growth and yield on these things is tremendous.”

According to specs provided by breeders, varieties that Ethell is evaluating will produce anywhere from four to 12 tons per acre.

“That’s mostly variety ¬– but sometimes site – dependent,” he said.

As his evaluations progress, Ethell will take out varieties that aren’t working and replace them with more of the varieties that are passing muster and also with new cultivars, including selections from offshore.

Broadacres Nursery offers several certified rootstocks, depending on what growers want to achieve.

Some rootstocks are phylloxera-resistant for those table grape varieties with Vitis vinifera in their makeup. Others are noted for reducing plant vigor to lessen summer pruning. Growers can also order rootstock that offers resistance to nematodes or allow vines to flourish in unfriendly soils such as those with high mineral or salt content.

Table grape yields are much higher than winegrape yields, especially when compared to Burgundian varieties like Pinot noir and Pinot gris, where production is kept at around 2 tons per acre.

On hand at the open house was OVS (formerly known as Oregon Vineyard Supply) to demonstrate the proper trellising system for table grapes.

“Table grapes are much more vigorous with heavier fruit loads (than winegrapes), so you need a stouter trellis system,” Ethell said.

While Ethell is evaluating seedless table grapes that have promise for western Oregon and Washington, he said that some of the cultivars with more cold hardiness may grow east of the Cascades, “in limited pockets.”

Some of Ethell’s vines should also interest growers in the Payette, Idaho, area, where a table grape industry is now emerging.

Organic growers should be particularly interested in the New York varieties because they have been selected for resistance to both powdery mildew and botrytis and thus do not require sprays for those diseases.

Broadacres Nursery also raises grafted winegrapes and poplar trees.