VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Vitis aestivalis | Summer Grape 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
More than 80 species of birds and animals eat summer grape berries; they
include songbirds, gamebirds (ruffed grouse, wild turkey, ring-necked
pheasant, and northern bobwhite), and furbearers (black bear, raccoon,
and skunk) [20,26,32].  Ripe grapes are available on the vine from
mid-August through mid-March; the peak abundance of fallen grapes occurs
in early November [20,26].

White-tailed deer browse foliage in the spring and early summer and
fallen leaves in the fall [20].

The twisted and tangled vines provide excellent escape and nesting cover
for songbirds.  Birds use the peeling bark for nest construction
[20,26].


PALATABILITY : 
Summer grape is highly preferred by wild turkey [29].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
In a 4-year-old black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) stand, nitrogen
concentrations in summer grape leaves and stems averaged 2.36 and 0.44
percent oven-dry weight, respectively [2].


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
NO-ENTRY


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
The fruit is edible and is used to make wine.  Numerous cultivated forms
have been developed from summer grape [29,31].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Summer grape damages and sometimes kills standing trees.  Summer grape
generally reduces timber quality by breaking tops and limbs, twisting
and bending the main stems, augmenting winter damage by collecting snow
and ice, and interfering with photosynthesis by shading tree foliage.
On fertile sites, summer grape is often present in 50 percent of the
tree crowns [25,26].

Summer grape can be controlled in commercial forests by manually
severing the stem.  This control method is effective if there are no
canopy openings and trees are tall enough that summer grape sprouts
cannot reach the sunlight within two growing seasons [25,26].

Summer grape survival after cutting the vine at ground level was
assessed in a mature West Virginia mixed hardwood forest.  At the end of
the first growing season following the severing of 20 large summer grape
stems, all 20 plants had sprouted and a few sprouts exceeded 12 feet
(3.7 m) in height.  At the end of the second growing season, most first
year sprouts had died and a few new sprouts were present.  By the end of
the third growing season, all summer grape plants were dead.  A similar
3-year pattern was observed in thinned and unthinned 12- and 18-year-old
stands.  However, sprouts grew into the canopy of a thinned 7-year-old
stand that averaged 9 to 10 feet (2.7-3.0 m) in height [26].

Trimble and Tyron [26] recommend that trees be a minimum of 25 feet (7.6
m) tall if summer grape stems are cut when the stand is thinned and a
minimum of 18 feet (5.5 m) tall if no thinning takes place.  Summer
grape removal from shorter stands by stem severing should be postponed.
Herbicides are effective against summer grape in commercial forests that
are too young for control by severing.  Summer grape should be cut 4
years before tree harvest to prevent the fast-growing sprouts from
interfering with the postharvest tree regeneration.

Summer grape seedlings are abundant after tree harvest but are not as
detrimental as sprouts to regenerating stands.  One year after
clearcutting in West Virginia, there were 70,000 summer grape seedlings
per acre (172,900/ha).  However, after 6 years, only 278 vines per acre
(687/ha) were established in tree crowns.  Only 5 percent of the trees
were infested [25].

Seed collection and propagation techniques are described for summer
grape [20].

Related categories for Species: Vitis aestivalis | Summer Grape