<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%"> </span>California<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By Eric Anderson<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">3.18.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>California grape growers are pulling out all the stops to ensure their fruit is a large and as firm as possible. Measures range from spraying grapes with hormones to scraping off a ring around the grapevine’s trunk.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">When the classic Thompson seedless variety is left to grow without human interference, grapes are small: usually around 1 to 2 grams each, according to viticulturist Matther Fidelibus of the University of California, Davis.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">But with the help of a few horticultural tricks, the berries plump up nearly fivefold, according to NPR. "They also get firmer and more cylindrical," Fidelibus said, which translates into higher price per pound and greater profits for farmers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">A practice called girdling forces the plant to put all its food and energy into making fruit. Plants have two types of pipes in their stems: the xylem and the phloem. The xylem pumps water to the leaves from the roots, while the phloem sends food from the leaves back down to the roots.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">If you cut off the phloem's flow, all the sugar and energy stays up top, where the fruit is growing, and the result is 10 to 30% plumper berries.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Fidelibus said that the vine heals itself after a few weeks so it doesn’t damage the plant’s long-term health.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">A hormone known as gibberellic acid is used to “enhance” berry size. It also allows farmers to control the shape of the fruit, making them longer and more cylindrical, while other chemicals provide a rounder shape.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Some varieties naturally produce larger grapes, including seeded strains like Red Globes. Also, the recently introduced Autumn King pumps out round grapes nearly 10 grams. This grape heavy-lifter has no need for performance enhancing drugs.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/03/06/173617381/we-like-em-big-and-juicy-how-our-table-grapes-got-so-fat" target="_new">Grape Report</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
