The place I have found this Grape to be most common is along the bike trail in Excelsior. The berries are a little sour but they are much less bitter and sour if you do not chew the seed ,but spit them out.

The forests edge, along my (and the neighbors) back yard. St. Louis County. Birds always get the fruit before I have a chance to. High up, small fruit, not a lot, due to lack of sun exposure I am guessing.

I'm curious if there is a decline in the Wild Grape population I used to see them all over around the Anoka area near Minneapolis but since I have moved up to Hubbard County I have not seen one Wild Grape Vine.

Lots of this on our place overlooking the north branch of the Root river.

I think this is what my neighbor allows to grow on the fence that divides our yards. It is very invasive and now is coming up al love on my side also it twist around my flowers and is very hard to get off. Is it allowed on personal property since it is so invasive. It doesn't flower or produce grapes and over hangs from her short 3-4 foot fence on top of my flowers. It also attracts asian battle & other bugs. What can I do?

Cheryl, everything attracts Japanese beetles so don't blame the grape vine. Your turf grass lawn is probably a bigger attraction, since that is where the larva live and grow. For the rest, try talking to your neighbor?

This plant is very prominent in our backyard. It was a mowed 5 acre lawn for 38 years before we purchased it four years ago, but we have let the back 2.5 acres go to prairie. What grew in was tons of smooth sumac, Milk thistle, clover, fleabane, black raspberry bushes, milkweed, tall grasses, Virginia creeper, several kinds of unknown (to us) berried shrubs (with orange, bright red, or tiny green berries), and this Riverbank grape. (Thank you for the detailed photos and info, it made identifying it very easy!) This grape plant is very prominent in this prairie area of our yard and has begun to cover the newly grown shrubs, bushes, and small trees. They seem to be everywhere, with hundreds of berries. Will they overtake everything if we don't thin them back?

Growing on sandy bank of lake. Next to oak and pine trees

I have lived at my present address since 1981. The other day I was surprised to see a vine and grape clusters hanging from a tree. I found this website identifying the vine as Riverbank Grape. When is the best time to make jelly from the grapes?

I believe this is what we have growing on our property in a small wooded area. I'll have to try and get some mature fruit before the deer and wildlife eat them all.

Several years ago I made the most amazing grape jelly from frost grapes - the best I've ever tasted. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands and prepare for a day long event. Do your homework online. And be careful to identify them correctly! Lastly, good luck getting to them before our forest friends!

I beleve I have a wild grape vine crawling on a pine tree I almost to the top. But it did not produce any grapes. Do we need a male and female plant to pollinate?

Bruce, the "Flower Description" notes male and female flowers are mixed on the same plant. Maybe critters took the fruit before you had a chance.

Growing in my front ditch. Should I build a trellis for it? I have a main plant, and I pulled older runners and roots from ALL over the place. I never really worked my weedy front ditch until this summer. I'd like to make it full of pollinator stuff.

I believe Riverbank Grape is growing near me up on a bluff area above the St. Croix River, near Afton State Park. I picked a leaf from the vine to try and identify it. It's 16" x 11-1/2" including the stem. Is this size common?

I like to pair it with Boxelder(acer negundo)when they're both still saplings so it has something to grow on. Boxelder's only drawback is it doesn't produce that valuable of a fruit so it's cool that you can produce an edible fruit by pairing the two together.

This is growing in the Northland Arboretum in Brainerd, Crow Wing Cnty. We need to trim it back, but thank you for the detailed information. I like knowing it is an important food source and cover for birds and insects.

My neighbors let this grow on their fence, and it has started to take over my fence. I trim what's on my side, but it often gets ahead of me.

Grows in the tree line around the swamp. Is very invasive and overtakes smaller trees and bushes. It pulls the smaller trees down and causes them to grow at an angle. Very hard to keep up with/get rid of. I found some vines that were 2-3" wide, look like something Tarzan would swing from.

Decades ago, I started to train River Grape over an arbor; thinking it would be good shade & a food source(me & birds). Haven't been able to get enough before the birds (everyone from pileated woodpeckers to wrens) to make any quantity of jelly as they gobble them up. The "grape" flesh is very small. Unless I actively whack back vines every fall and spring, it will overtake adjoining trees and banks. Seed quickly spread by the birds. I must pull the first shoots as I see them or dig out an extensive root system. Excellent for grapevine wreaths, however, if you harvest vines green and flexible and let dry to shape.

I have used the fruit a few times to make delicious jelly. In spite of a large area I can harvest from there aren't enough grapes every year. I am seeing more buds on vines this year than ever before (so maybe I will get some.) Has anyone else observed this?

Have discovered Riverbank Grape in a suburban backyard growing under our tall Cedar hedges along with Virginia Creeper. I really want to keep it for it's value to birds but will the vine do damage to our cedar hedges?

Found a couple small vines peaking out of a grassy bank on the shore of Star Lake in Crow Wing County (about 4 miles east-southeast of the city of Cross Lake)

I have been fighting theses vines now for the last couple of years on the Mississippi Riverbank since they are overtaking everything. It seems to be a futile endeavor though. Would you have any helpful suggestions? Thank you

I remembered my parents making jelly when I was a child. I had to research to make sure it was the same thing. There is a lot of grapes this year!

Just discovered we have a bunch on our property, my plant Id app said riverbank grapes were 'unpalatable' to humans, can you really make jelly from them? If so is it best to wait for frost before harvesting?

Jessica, wild grapes are tart but certainly edible. You could wait for frost before harvesting but wildlife may get to them before then.

Have a vine growing on a trellis by my patio. The plant exploded this year with beautiful big grape bushels! It attracted swarms of hornets so I decided to pick them to cut off the hornets food supply. Well a 5 gallon bucket full of grapes later...I'm making jelly! Found this vine annoying until I discovered what one can do with the grapes! Jelly for Christmas gifts! Lololol

I'm torn about these vines. On one hand they really do seem to smother other small trees and bushes. I've been blaming them for some dead trees around the wooded areas of our yard. I don't know that they are truly to blame though. Yesterday I ripped a massive network of these vines out of some old lilac bushes and felt like it was a mistake afterwards. I like allowing the yard to be as natural as possible while keeping it neat. I think I'll just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't hop on our oak trees and let them do their thing otherwise.

Appears to be a huge field behind townhouses east of 47. They are climbing pine and deciduous trees. Will this kill the trees?

Bauer, wild grape has been coexisting with trees for centuries. I would not expect it to kill trees, but in the unnatural urban/suburban landscape it could be more aggressive than it would be in the wild.

Urban Wild Grapes do indeed grow much more aggressively than in the woods. They are harmful when they grow too fast and envelop small trees or large branches weighing them down significantly. I had to rescue a stand of birch trees that was getting snapped off by a large heavy matte of the vines covering the canopy.

Snipping off the largest trunk stem does indeed kill them off slowly. They have tendrils everywhere, but the main trunk will heavily ooze sap once you snip them with a shears or pole saw. Be sure to snip off a "Gap" in the trunk stem of more than 3-4 inches so it can't heal together and keep going.

Smaller plants on the ground are usually not a huge concern - when they get big - like lilac bushes or larger - and have good roots - that's when they shoot up a tree fast and envelop it. I have a neighbor with a huge "Umbrella" of them on a large cottonwood branch that wasn't even there two months ago, and it will need cutting or the branch will come down in another two months.

A couple of years ago, Riverbank Grape appeared on the south side of the house in a dry/hot/sunny area. I didn't want it there, so I transplanted it to a 100% shade area (between buildings and under an elm), in damp ground, under a trellis, where it's hard to get anything to grow (Oriental Bittersweet was growing there previously). In this new and very different spot, Riverbank Grape is doing great. It's highly adaptable.

We have this all over our 2.5-acre property with some vines 15+ years old growing up burr oaks on the back of our property. It also loves to strangle our American Hazelnuts. I'm not sure if we should cut it back or leave it.

I dug up a grape plant from the woods behind my house. I planted it near my deck and trained it over the pergola. It has produced a lovely shady west facing deck, but no fruit. It blooms heavily every year. All male flowers or something else?

On our property these vines have indeed taken over and killed many trees. The land was completely wooded until we built 2 years ago. But these vines have been here for years.

I believe I just found this growing in between my white pine & cedar trees. I was comparing the vine to the grapes we bought at Menards - similar but not quite the same. These seem hardier LOL, dark indigo colored fruit and the vines are mostly green with hint of red.

South Minneapolis, along banks of Minnehaha Creek, near I-35W. Several small Riverbank Grape vines seen growing on weedy volunteer trees within feet of creek. Some grape clusters are very small, green, and undeveloped as of mid-September. Although, a few grapes are nearly half-inch, deep blue/purple, and tart (but tasty!)