I tend to post the best I have. Lane is loaded but not this thick all along the 20’ wire. It is a 3rd leaf vine that was bigger when planted. None of my other vines have fruit this thick. Hall is in it’s 2nd leaf and it has a decent amout but certainly not loaded. If your looking for improvement tips some pictures would help me and other make suggestions. The picture you posted above looks like it is loaded. It is normal for many of the small fruit to drop.
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I’m assuming that no problems exist other than visual. Probably ok. I don’t think it would hurt to add just enough soil to bring the level to the top of the roots. I wouldn’t add anything with fertilizer that close to the trunk.
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Thanks! No, no issues with the plant. May add some soil.
On my pawpaw trees I seem to once or twice a year have to put a little soil around the crown. Just kinda erosion; everything in my garden is on a slight slope.
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Add at least 2 inches of soil, reason being to protect the roots from cold weather. Roots tend to be a tad more sensitive than the trunk,
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This is a wild muscadine in a grown up corner of the back side of my property. I’m considering setting up one of these vines on a trellis. Not sure if there is any good reason to do so. This vine bloomed about 1-2 weeks before my improved varieties and I was wondering if it would also ripen early. I should know i a couple of months.
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Jelly made with wild muscadines can be dramatically better flavored that from any of the domesticated varieties. It depends on the tartness and overall flavor of the wild vine. I’ve found 3 or 4 over the years that are good enough that I would grow a vine just to have some of the jelly.
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I have always been told that the best jelly/jam were made from wild varieties. I think it would also be interesting for people to compare the taste with newer ones.
I worked in all of the southeastern states over the years (installing telephone offices) and sampled wild muscadines where and when I could find them. The flavor profile of wild muscadines in eastern Virginia generally taste like the Scuppernong. Muscadines from the Georgia coast are less tart. The most robust flavors I’ve sampled came from North Alabama and Eastern Tennessee. These were NOT sweet grapes, just loaded with intense flavor. I know of a vine less than a mile away that is one of the most intense flavored I’ve tried. I suspect there is an interplay of genetics with soil conditions that gives the rich flavor.
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I am so disgusted! After planting 6 Isons muscadine vines - (and 2 support systems later) - my vines were reaching the wire . . . . . .
And then the guy that ‘speed mows’ our property ran over my ‘Darlene’, yanking it out of its planting hole. By the time I saw it, late in the day, the roots were dry. I did an Emergency Re-Plant and Hydration . . . but I don’t think I was able to resuscitate Darlene. Sigh. And Isons is through with shipping for the season. DAMN! And Darlene was doing soooooo well. 
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Sorry. I know you put a lot of effort into growing the vines. A few years back the mow guy was trying to cut under one of my mature vines that was touching the ground. He wasn’t going very fast but it was hot and he got careless. Backed up and two large branches pulled loose from the main cordon. The mow guy was me so I couldn’t even fire him but I did have a few choice words under my breath. These plants are special to us and we put a lot of effort into growing them. Hope it survives.
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I absolutely agree with your suspicion that soil and everything a plant derives from it affects taste of fruit. In my experience - A variety of tomato, grown in Louisville, Kentucky tastes nothing like the same variety of tomato, grown in my area of Virginia! And I’ll take that Kentucky tomato any day! 
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Sorry to hear that!
I have Darlene too.
What other varieties did you plant?
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I planted a Tara and a Dixie. Also, the 3 Frys. Early, Late and ‘Fry’.
I will have to wait for November to replace the Darlene. I planted the Fry grapes on one wire . . . and the others on a separate one - a good distance away.
Now I can’t recall which one is the pollinizer for the second group . . . and hope it was not Darlene. But I put that one in the middle . . . which is a good indication that it WAS the pollinizer. I’ll have to check the catalogue again.
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Darlene is a bonze female with relatively low production. Late Fry is a bronze self fertile. Tara is a bronze self fertile
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Yeah, I haven’t gotten much off my Darlene. It was also later to start producing versus my Ison.
But they were very sweet
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For Darlene, what is the best way to make a pollination tree?
Sorry to hear that! Hope your Darlene will survive.
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Thanks, @Fusion_power. Maybe I won’t mourn Darlene, after all! I can choose another more productive variety in November, when Ison’s starts shipping. Any suggestions?
The two remaining on that stretch of wire are the Tara and a Dixie. (The Frys are on the far side of my ‘orchard’ area.)
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I would get Summit if possible. It is an older variety, but one of the best available. If you do not have Supreme, it is also a good candidate.
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