General description: The Reliance variety was created at the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station in 1964 as a cross between the Ontario and Suffolk Red varieties. It’s very easy to cultivate in temperate European climes. Reliance is valued for its juicy, sweet fruit that have a strawberry aftertaste, and for its delicate skin that easily peels away from the flesh.

Fruit: Reliance bears medium sized, round, seedless (possibly with a single tiny, soft seed not noticeable when eating), pink to greyish-purple grapes. Their flesh is juicy, sweet, has a strawberry aroma and easily separates from the delicate skin. Clusters grow up to 20 cm long, are cylindrical or conical in shape, well-filled and moderately compact. During summers with heavy, consistent rains, the grapes may crack at the very end of ripening.

Ripening: This variety’s fruit is usually fully ripe in mid-September.

Leaves: Reliance grows medium-sized or large leaves with three wide lobes, dark green in colour and greyish-green and mossy on the underside. They have yellowish-green petioles.

Cultivation requirements: This grapevine requires a sunny and warm location. It prefers light, well-drained soil, and doesn’t like heavy, wet substrates. It grows and bears fruit best in slightly acidic soils. It can be cultivated throughout temperate climes, even in areas with a climate unfavourable for other grape varieties. Seedlings should be planted every 1-1.5 meters, 10-15 cm deeper than in the pot they came in. Very small seedlings should be planted in a shallow hole and only covered wholly with soil in autumn. This significantly increases the frost resistance of grapevines and increases the efficiency of watering freshly planted vines.

Care: To build a powerful root system, grapevines need a lot of water. Caring for a newly planted seedling is basically limited to systematic watering. It is especially important to pay attention to watering in early summer and as the grapes ripen. Each young vine bush requires up to three buckets of water per watering.

Pruning: In the first year after planting, it’s recommended to keep only one to three stems. In the following years, trimming depends on how the vine is to be shaped. Thinning out, in order to obtain high quality fruit, is advised. This shrub grows vigorously and is suitable for forming into the shape of a tall pergola. It thickens fast and may require careful pruning in summer as it produces many fresh shoots in the warmer months. Generally, stems should be pruned to a moderate length and care should be taken whilst selecting which stems and shoots are to be cut, to leave well-fruiting ones on the plant. It is best to leave pruning until late autumn and winter (well before the beginning of vegetation), although, as mentioned, trimming in summer helps control expansion and should be done after new shoots are partially lignified.

Props: This grapevine is perfect for growing on all kinds of fences, pergolas and arbours, trellises and other garden support structures.

Overwintering: Reliance withstands temperature drops of down to -27°C, however it is recommended to protect the plant for the winter (for e.g., by using agrotextiles). At the beginning of November, cover young seedlings by piling a mound of soil with peat about 30 cm in height over the plants. 

Origin: USA.