I am looking into growing a muscadine variety but, as usual, have paralysis by analysis thanks to the internet. Does anyone have experience in SW VA that can attest to a variety that grows well? What I do know is that I need a early ripening, cold hardy variety and Lane, Ison, Supreme, and Black Beauty seem to be good places to start.
I am looking for self-fertile, good fresh eating, and highly disease resistant as I plan to not spray. I ate my first muscadine a few years ago in NC that was just growing random in the woods and it was black/dark purple and absolutely delicious. Any help or insights is much appreciated!
What sort of lows have you seen over the last few weeks? If you are hitting zero or dropping under regularly you might want to wait until the new variety Mighty Fine is available again. It is currently sold out, as are many other varieties for the year.
It seems like the newer seedless varieties from Gurney’s may not be as cold hardy. Many will be planting them this year so we should learn a lot by Spring of 2027.
Of the ones you listed, Black Beauty and Supreme are females, so need a self fertile nearby for pollination. I’m in Northern Virginia and possibly warmer than you, but I’ve been very happy with Paulk (dark) and Hall (bronze), with Hall ripening a bit earlier. So far no winter damage, but we’ll see how things look in the spring after a lot of nights dipping below 10 degrees. Hall is still available at Isons, so might be a good choice to get in the ground this year if you want to try a bronze. It is self fertile so you could try Black Beauty (also still available) with it, but I haven’t grown that one myself and it does seem a bit more finicky for some people.
I’m in Greensboro, NC, and Lane is one of my favorite muscadine cultivars. It’s the earliest and most productive of my muscadines. Supreme has bigger fruit and is very good as well, but it’s not self-fertile. Ison has smaller fruit and thicker skins that make it less appealing for fresh eating. I also have a younger Paulk vine that seems very similar to Lane, just a bit later. For bronze cultivars, I also grow Triumph and used to grow Summit, and they’re tasty but less productive. In my experience without ever spraying them, the fruit of the bronze cultivars is more susceptible to rot than the black/purple cultivars.
I’m at the north part of Virginia with 10 varieties that have done fine for quite a few years now. Muscadine grow wild in many parts of southern Virginia. I used to pick them when I lived in southern Virginia. Just avoid the super late ripening varieties. Mine do not require any kind of spray or anything else for that matter. I have named ones, but even the wild ones taste great.
The tags on them disappeared early in the game and now I don’t know which is which. They are mostly the big named ones from Isons including the Isons itself. Have a few that are not the Isons branded ones like Carlos, Nesbit, ect. Carlos is not as big, but I love the flavor. There is a nice selection of flavors in muscadine.
Darlene isn’t self fertile but I’ve had it in a 7 gallon fabric pot exposed to all extreme weather for a long time now. No fertilizer. No pruning. Very infrequent watering. I just let it sprawl. I can’t seem to kill it. I would recommend it if you have room for two vines.
Paulk is late ripening but I have not had any issues with harvesting fruit from mid-October through the first week of November. I let em hang and ripen. I think this is a good one for you try. It’s extremely vigorous and has been cold hardy so far.…but I think the last 2.5 weeks of bone chilling temps will have been the real test. If it comes back full strength this April i’ll feel comfortable calling it bulletproof. I assume you’re in the foothills if you’re 7A?
Black Beauty and Lane both died here in Baltimore metro area from cold related injury. User error might have had something to do with BB dying. But Lane did not display the vigor of other varieties and just didn’t come back one Spring after a cold snap.
We’re still kind of figuring out what the more cold hardy varieties are through anecdote. Literature on growing them further north or in higher elevations is limited (as far as I can tell) as they are only recently gaining some recognition in the mid-atlantic interior. Timing your late winter/early spring pruning will be important. You don’t want to get caught in hard frost right after pruning.
All muscadines are near bulletproof against disease and pests in my experience. At least here. Last year I did have some lanterfly nymphs munching on leaves but they didn’t harm anything and neem oil was enough to solve them.
I’m thinking about trying Sugargate with a self-fertile variety - maybe Isons or Carlos. I don’t want to wait another year for the Altus or Mighty Fine in case I miss them yet again. I hope with the Blue-X tubes from Ison’s I can protect the vines and get them through winters.