Our low was about 33 but it will be colder tomorrow morning.
We got to 31 or more than likely a little above that here.
Honestly i forgot about my recently planted Late Fry, but it’s in a Blue X. So maybe a little protection.
My older Ison has not broken bud yet.
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35 degrees this morning. I should know in a few hours if the frost does any damage. 38 predicted for tomorrow morning so I’m assuming we will be good going forward.
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Good news! Looks like 28 and 29 didn’t do anything to my Black Beauty. Lane is still a bit behind waking up.
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That is good news. Thanks for the report.
Received Paulk from Ison’s today. Big vine. Going to replace the runtier of my two Lane’s with it.
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My lows of 29 a couple of nights in a row didn’t do any harm to my 1/2" growth on my vines. They’ve now got between an inch and three inches of growth from most buds on the vines. They’re still young and this is only the second year. I probably need to make some hard choices about pruning off growth on the upright stems and parts of the arms to finish getting them down the wires, but I’m tempted to leave some since I see some flower buds emerging. I’m actually okay if they stay shorter, so if I let them fruit will that just keep them from growing out? It seems like it would
I’m also wondering about fertilizing. I see the Ison recommendations in their videos, which seems like a lot of fertilizer, and I expect they are based on getting the most vigor out of the vines and the biggest harvest. I have a few vines that I’m just going to let go up and form an umbrella for now since I’m not sure I want to use my limited trellis area for them. One in particular, Darlene, seems to be known for being very vigorous and not so fruitful. Does it make sense with vines like that to skip the fertilizing if they’re growing well? Or maybe use something that is low in N and high in P and K?
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My last three years using the Isons guidelines has worked well without any problems. Most of the vines went most of the distance down the 20’ wire. We recently changed locations and this time I’m leaning toward just using 10-10-10 at the first of each month.
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Getting a bit of paralysis from analysis with how to train and prune two vines (Black Beauty & Lane) on top of my pergola.
I kind of went the non-traditional route of planting both at one corner so I need to figure out how to train them to each take up half the space.
First photo is where they both reach the top of the pergola. Black beauty is leading lane by about 4-6’ of growth if that matters.
This second photo shows where they are planted and growing from
Any advice as to how I should train them on top of the pergola?
EDIT: Found this video which is for grapes but it might transfer to training muscadines:
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What is the Earliest ripening Muscadine grape?
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My earliest are Hall and Lane.
My earliest is triumph in zone 7, Missouri boot heel. Your zone may make a difference.
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As most of you know we moved to another location. With this move I decided to dig some of my muscadines that had reached the full 20’ length to replant. Three of the four were still limber enough to roll up for transporting. The Hall was too stiff so I cut the cordon about four feet on each side. Results as of now have been mostly good. All but one appears to be growing well but I did have one that appears dead (Lane). The Hall and Oh My are almost like they wern’t moved. Supreme and Black Beauty are doing well but with less fruit buds. Time will tell but I think moving bigger vines will speed up getting them into larger production. I think digging these and potting them before all the leaves dropped might have help develope new roots before actually planting into my orchard.
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Hello everyone, I’m new here but have spent the last 3 weeks scouring the boards as I begin my venture of growing fruit at the new house. I’ve planted 3 muscadines as well as 2 concords and 3 blueberry bushes. I’ve been reading as much as I can for these plants but have come to my first crossroads with my muscadines.
After the late frost central NC received a few weeks ago, I started noticing black spotting on the leaves and some browning to the top tendrils. From what I can tell, this appears to be a mild case of black rot that just happened to coincide with the low temps.
I figured it wasn’t worth starting a new post so I hope you all don’t mind if I ask about it here.
Can anyone help confirm this is black rot?
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I will defer to the more experienced folks but off-hand it looks very minor to me, and I wouldn’t do anything if it were my vine.
You could spray some captan or other fungicide just in case, but I wouldn’t fret much and just keep an eye on it.
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This is a great place to ask questions about muscadines and welcome to the forum. If this was my leaves I would see if it gets worst before doing anything about the spots. If it is really bothering you Immunox can be sprayed on. I don’t know how well the muscadines vines do in your location but at my place the vine is pretty much bulletproof.
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Really appreciate the feedback. I will say, it does appear on most leaves and have been taking the “wait and see” approach the past week. This is my first time growing anything other than herbs or blackberries so probably just a little over anxious. I’ll continue to monitor the situation and see how it plays out.
Lucky for me, I seem to be in muscadine country in my part of NC, so climate should be ideal for the grapes. My biggest fear is the “urban” soil that seems to predominate my subdivision. Submitting a soil sample test to the NCDA to see what they say (I know, I should’ve gm done this before planting but I’m a bit impulsive and impatient and understand muscadine don’t require the most fertile soil to thrive). I will be following Ison’s recommended fertilizing schedule with minor tweaks based on the feedback from my soil test. I may be impulsive, but I like to dive in head first into these sorts of things.
Two more questions for those more experienced:
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How quickly can you expect these vines to grow in ther vertical direction (with proper pruning of course)
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I understand third year plants are when we expect fruit, does that mean 3yr old plants or does that mean 3 years after being planted in their new home?
Thanks again for the warm welcome, I’ve really enjoyed reading through so many of these threads already.
Three years after planting in their new home is when you should get fruit. With a LOT of work and knowing what you are doing, you can get a small crop the second year. IMO, it is better to focus on growing the vine and wait for fruit until the vine can support a crop.
Amend your soil by adding organic matter on top. You can use peat moss if nothing else is available. Compost works very well to ramp up vine growth. Be careful about using any kind of tree bark as it absorbs nitrogen from the soil. You can still use bark, just have to be very diligent to keep enough nitrogen on it to avoid depleting the oil.
I’m training mine to be on top of a pergola and live in a slightly colder area. In one growing season one vine managed to get to the top of the ~10’ pergola and then another 4’ across it. Another vine that had its planting delayed by a month grew about 8’ tall.
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Thanks for the answers and tips. I’ve put down some leftover “garden soil” underneath a portion of the trellis in hopes to improve available nutrients. My plan was to add more of this soil along with peat moss and compost under the rest of the trellis as I know my soil is likely lacking in any real nutrients (I’ll find out just how lacking in a week or so once the soil tests come back). I also placed some pine bark mulch at the last 4 feet of the trellis but will move that to the edges where grass/weeds need to be better controlled than they are.
Aside from fertilizing, constant pruning of axil buds/new lateral growth, watering, and keeping the adjacent area weed free, is there any additional work I should be considering to ensure a strong trunk and root system?