I’m glad to hear you’re going for Kiwi(!). I get far more of my kiwi’s than I do grapes, mainly because birds don’t hone in on Kiwi. I’d recommend both fuzzy and hardy kiwi’s. The hardy are great for fresh eating, at least that’s as far as mine get – and the larger fuzzies are magnificent keepers. In fact, I’m just finishing up the last dozen fuzzy kiwi I’ve had stored in the unheated basement – with another pristine box in the refrigerator. So I’ll be eating kiwi (5 or so a day) until May ...show me a grape that can do that!

As for the grapes… I love Concords and grew up with them in Portland. But out here in the hills it’s too cool for them to ripen, Niagara, either …So I'm envious of anyone who can grow and ripen them. I’d consider the Concords as a jelly and juice grape, and with ‘so many’ you could really make that venture worth your while. So I wouldn’t get rid of them all...

Keep in mind what you’ll do with (all those) table grapes, after you’ve given away and eaten all you can… They’re not near the ‘processing grape’ as is Concord. …all pending on how well you keep the birds away…

As far as grafting; keep in mind you’d only be attaching several 6 inch sticks (scions) to those 6, 8 and 10 inch diameter grape ‘trunks.’ There’s no way those shoots can provide the growth necessary to replenish the roots of a grape that age … and a large percentage of the roots would die and rot… allowing decay organisms to establish themselves and possibly migrate to other grape roots.

If you were to graft, the 6 inch ‘trunk’ (or vine) would be the best candidate; but as mentioned, it would need some massive new growth to offset the vine loss. If it ‘split’ somewhere within reach - you could graft half this year - and the other half in 2 or three years…

…or, remove them all together. If you’ve got trunks that large you likely have good soil, and grapes grow fast! Before grafting I’d simply replace them with ‘what you want,’ though be careful what you wish for

Mbarnett – “So yes you are on the list for at least one of the grapes. And a backhoe will fit in my back yard”

Thanks for the offer but I can’t ripen them " title="Crying or Very sad" /> …and I was joking with John about needing a backhoe; it’s said one grape vine can be trained to cover an entire acre – and that their roots run wherever necessary to feed the vine. In other words, with 40 year old Concords, I suspect a lot of digging!

Years ago I removed a ten year old ‘Concorde like’ grape of mine and donated it to the HOS at their Scion Exchange. It was massive – and easily the largest and longest thing there …I’m now envisioning yours – Times four. Obviously, you’d not need to get anywhere near all the roots, and severely prune the vine… but that’s still a lot of plant. But ‘this’ is the time to do it, so have fun " title="Wink" />

Even with what appears to be near impenetrable thickets …you’ve got a lot of production potential there! I’d salvage at least one of those Concord ‘vines.’ It seems a real waste to remove such well established vines; and their new growth looks to be in excellent condition… They just need a sturdy trellis or structure to be trained to. There’s a lot of work, thinking and skill necessary to revive them, but it can be done.

I’d build a massive four-legged trellis or arbor straddling the length of their current bed, strong enough to support a Fuzzy kiwi (pair) as well as any of the Concord vines you’d like to save. With …say one Concord, a male and female Fuzzy kiwi and a couple of Hardy female kiwi (the fuzzy male will pollinate both hardy and fuzzy females) you could adjust your allocation of trellis space to whichever you wanted the most of. Keep in mind that Hardy kiwi will only take up about one third the space of the Fuzzys. I’d give the Concord and Fuzzy kiwi equal space. Just use heavy duty everything and plan of pruning heavy every year…