hydro will be a lot of work for grapes. have you grown other stuff in hydro before? i recomend a "bato Bucket" system, but lava rocks will tear up your pump. i would use expanded clay or pea gravel. this seems like a lot of work to grow grapes though. that is just my $.02
~Ryan

I want to grow some wine grapes too, Im looking at E&F.
Thinking 2 5gallon buckets filled with expanded clay, lava, or perlite. Cheapest will always find a way into my life.

I'd use PureBlend pro. Unless I do some Aquaponics. Im building a nice system in a month to go under my 400w MH. If it goes well I will build another Aqua type grow.

Grapes will take about 3 years (from 1 year old plants) to bear fruit so a short term media like Perlite might not be a good idea. Furthermore, grapes are prone to fungal diseases (Oak Root Fungus, powdery mildew, downy mildew), & since Perlite is prone to algae it might not be a good choice.

Grapes can have an extensive root system so you will need a large enough container. Some smaller root system varieties such include the Concord or labrusca type vines although I do not know how they would perform in hydro. Good drainage is important so some of the above media suggestions are worth trying.

Grapes will also need full sun & trellising. There would be problems with outdoor hydro in colder climates, as the nutrient would freeze. Graperies, or greenhouses with very high roofs (or good trellising) might be an option. Growing indoors can be a problem, however, since leaf moisture can contribute to fungal diseases.

Over watering can cause the fruit to split in some varieties so a constant nutrient flow after the flowering stage may need adjustment.

Never heard of this it may be possible but i would suspect about 20 - 30 gallon root zone about 10-12 ft of double wire trellis and about a gallon of wine per vine after the third year. Proper pruning is required to get much anything grapes only grow on second year wood. grapes like lots of room lots of sun very little water and very little fertilizer,ruthless pruning. Probably not a very good candidate for hydroponics. It would probably cost more than buying a pricey hi grade wine just to grow the grapes and it may be dificult to get them to make even a drinkable wine.

I too am interested in grapes. They typically grow in sandy soil with poor nutrients. Seems to me if you dedicated a hydroponic pod to this, used gravel, and researched the right nutrient balance (which is why they need their own pod) it should be possible to at least produce grapes.

Once that happens you can fine tune the setup and figure out what works best. It'll be interesting.

I'll be doing mostly the tried and true stuff with typical greenhouse operations, but plan to definitely experiment.

I just aquired a 25 acre parcel and plan to develop a 3000 ft greenhouse. I'll definitely be devoting some resources to grape experimentation ;-) Will mostly be basil, tomato, bell peppers and lettuce but I will be definitely be playing. Where there's a will there's probably a way.