These tendrils are no joke. That’s pretty bad!
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I hate when I find one like that but the vine recovers quickly.
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It looks like my oh my vines made it to the top support. To get the vine to grow both left and right do I need to prune it?
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Method 1. Most recommendations I have seen say to pinch off the vine a couple of inches below the wire which will force a couple of buds out to run down the wire in opposite directions. I have used this method and it works well with a little slowdown initially. Advantage is more even growth down each side of the wire.
Method 2. An alternate method is to gently train the top down the wire without pinching back and wait on another bud to push out a couple of inches below the wire and use it for the other direction. This is the method I used on my OH MY. Advantage in my opinion is that I don’t slow down one side/cordons growth and helps push a few spurs for next years fruit. This method results in about a 14-20" inch down the wire advantage over the other side.
Opinion. Use the method you prefer because in the long run they end up at the same place.
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Your vine looks healthy and based on the distance between leaves it is growing at a rapid rate. My guess is about 2" per day.
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Thank you, yes they are growing very fast. It seems like a decent location that they are planted in. Horrible soil and full sun (outside like 1-2pm where they get a bit of shade).
I think I am going to attempt method 2. Getting a grape, one damn grape, would be a significant victory next year.
My goals are realistic.
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Method 2. The OH MY was so small starting off this year it is way behind. Good news is that it is doing well now and I expect (hope) to get a few to test new year. I suspect the amounts will be small but with others growing it I think we can get some sense of the fruit quality.
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Looks great. Those clusters remind me of table grapes. Makes me wish I had bought the Razz also.
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You are better off with what you already have.
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Please don’t laugh at this pathetic group of Hall muscadine—I just planted it this past winter. The blemishes had me worried, but the flavor was excellent and many don’t eat the skin, which didn’t have any off flavors despite the blemishes. The flavor was good enough for me to make plans to add a few more vines. I suspect the size will be better next year.
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Mine that get the sunlight blemish like that…
Beautiful color. I’ve wondered about Hall.
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You did better than I did. I planted a Hall and left one cluster. All eventually dropped without me getting to taste one.
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All my muscadines are getting bigger each year. I’m assuming the size gets bigger as the roots gets more established.
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For about 5 years, this is true. Larger and older vines with larger root systems also produce better tasting fruit within the limits of soil and weather. Have you noticed that overloaded vines produce both smaller and less sweet fruit? Muscadines have a “carrying capacity” that appears to be based on vine spacing (i.e. size of root system sans competition), solar exposure, soil type, nutrient availability from the soil, and water availability. Many modern varieties overload so heavily that the vines can die over winter from stress caused by excessive fruit load. Ison and Supreme are in this category. 15-1-1 aka Sweet Mix overloads so much that fruit sweetness is reduced significantly. This highlights the requirement for yearly heavy pruning, heavy fertilizing including mid and late summer fertilizer, and ensuring water is available as needed.
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My Southern Home was overloaded last year and the quality suffered. I froze some of these but never used them. My Lane is a younger plant but it already taste better. As I pick Lane this year I’m tossing out the SH.
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Nice to know that they get even better tasting.
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When do you pick Black Beauty? Mine have turned dark but have zero taste. It is a 2 year old and does not have much fruit, I don’t want to keep wasting fruit if I am picking then too early but also don’t want birds to get them. Late Fry and Darlene have been great this year.
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