Hancock Agricultural Research Station

The Master Gardeners are having an open house (August 7, 4 to 7 P.M.) at the Hancock, WI Research Station just off I-39/51. Anyone interested in growing grapes in Wisconsin should attend. Other points of interest might be the prairie planting, soybeans, or just the multi-year test of all those fancy coneflowers that are too pricey for a typical owner to try all at one time.

They have also been demonstrating different types of gardening styles; a raised bed herb garden, square foot gardening, and different caging and netting methods.

And although this is a small garden from botanical garden comparisons, they do have a nice water feature, and an interesting display of Depression era hand farm tools and machinery, although the machinery is used in the garden bed displays as sculptural elements.

Growing Grapes at the Hancock Research Station

The UW-Extension has a well-written booklet on growing grapes in Wisconsin. When Handsome Son was nine, he and I took part in the grape pruning clinic the station holds each spring. Then, they let you take some of the clippings from which are very easy to start your own plants.

The growing system is simplistic. Two wires strung between 8' posts sunk two feet into the ground. Grapes tied up on the wires with hay bailer twine in the spring after pruning.

The one thing the pamphlet, which can be downloaded free of charge as a PDF, is not exceptionally good at is pictures showing the ideal pruning structure. I would say I have never seen this pruning style, which I refer to as the Vitruvius Man, illustrated quite as were as it is seen on these 'Mars' seedless grapes. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

They had six or so varieties growing, in order of what I would say expected yields given the hanging grapes this season of heaviest to lightest; Mars, Edleweiss, Frontenac, Blue Belle, Unknown, Othello.

You can clearly see these grapes are completely cold hardy here in central Wisconsin by the size of the main trunk on this grape, which resembles a tree rather than a vine.

More on Grapes

Grapes at the Chicago Botanical Gardens


The 'Concord' grape vines around central Wisconsin have really set on the grapes this year. In my village it is getting pretty dry. The family garden being just a tad north, 21 miles, got over an inch of rain last week. Here, just spit. Even my shrubs are feeling the hurt. After all the rain in May, June, and July, it is odd to see them drooping or losing leaves prematurely because of the lack of moisture. I have started to drag out my hoses.

Big juicy grapes need plenty of sunshine and plenty of moisture to reach their potential sweetness.

In the family garden, I underplanted them with squash. It was a great idea as we were having an issue with weeds and it really kept the weeds from growing there. As we had plenty of rainfall, moisture was not an issue.

So, in addition to watering, if needed, and they need it here in my yard; I typically prune some of the leaves off the plant that are shading the grape bunches overmuch. I keep in mind that as the grapes begin to ripen they also become tempting to birds trying to load up on calories to make their fall migrations. I don't want to make the grapes too accessible.

Something that reminder me about this fall leaf pruning was some television show. Two men were having a conversation, I think it was some crime drama. Between them were these mature, perfectly grown and pruned grapes strung on wire between posts. Hanging from them were bunches, and I mean loads of bunches, of grapes. This wasn't some prop, a product of Hollywood's imagination, and the fact that they were properly grown was incidental to the scene itself.

I do know if the gardener was the "perp" for which the investigator was looking, that the gardener was so methodical, that he would never have been caught!