Champin's grape

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Believed to be a natural hybrid of V. candicans and V. rupestris. Fruit is edible but thick-skinned and often astringent, of secondary interest for eating fresh — this species is grown almost exclusively for its rootstock value, since it's exceptionally resistant to phylloxera and Pierce's disease and tolerant of drought and alkaline soil, underlying the widely used commercial rootstocks Dog Ridge and Ramsey/Salt Creek.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Vine

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Sept

Mature size

Climbing vine to 9–12 m with support

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.5–8.0 (neutral to alkaline), highly drought-tolerant

Environment

Arid to semi-arid

Native range

A natural hybrid of Vitis mustangensis and V. rupestris, arising where their ranges overlap on the Edwards Plateau of west-central Texas and reported from adjacent northern Mexico — dry brushland and limestone soils.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs

Growth speed

Very fast — 2–5 m of cane in a season once established

Spacing

200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Broadly cordate, 8–15 cm, shallowly lobed, undersides woolly-white

Root system

Deep, drought-hardy and nematode-tolerant, from the harsh limestone country of central Texas -- the traits that put this species into rootstock breeding for hot, dry, high-pH sites.

Fruit description

Black grapes, ~10–15 mm, thick-skinned, tart to astringent

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings in winter — the standard method, since it roots easily and is propagated commercially at scale as rootstock.

Pollination

⚠ DIOECIOUS — needs male + female (a vigorous fruitless wild vine is usually a lone male)

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.