Noticed today that i’ve got trunk splitting on my frost damaged Black Beauty. Honestly it looks like it’s nearing death. I don’t know how to describe it…but it feels damp and cold to the touch in a way that the unaffected vines do not and it has lichen starting to grow on it in patches. Scratch test still shows some life but it doesn’t look vibrant.
Should I cut it back to the ground?
I think I contributed to it with my first clumsy vine pruning attempt (followed the Isons guide).
If your sure the vine won’t survive I would cut it back. Another option would be to just go ahead and plant a replacement vine.
Thanks for suggesting Pyganic. It is scheduled to arrive Tuesday.
You’re welcome. Please read the instructions carefully. I’ve been using a level tablespoon to a gallon of water. Shake the sprayer or stir well to mix it into the water. It is most effective in the 3 hours immediately after spraying and has little or no effect after 24 hours. Japanese beetles roll off the vines dead, particularly if you get the spray on them direct. I also use neem oil which has some antifungal effect.
Pyganic followup from my one experience. I applied it to one 80’ row of muscadines that had plenty of Japanese Beetles. Because it’s a contact spray It was applied near sunset to help reduce the kill of other insects. It’s my understanding that it’s only effective while wet so applying late in the day might help keep it in that state longer. The Japanese Beetles have an immediate reaction to being sprayed by moving. I came back around about fifteen minutes later and they were all gone so I’m assuming it killed them and they dropped off. If anyone else decides to use it I suggest reading the label for the correct application. My first opinion was good. Now I’m wondering if it will kill Plum Curculio.
Re PC, yes, it kills them, but it is very difficult to catch them on the plant during the time the spray is active.
What I like a lot about pyganic is that there is almost no residual activity after 24 hours. This means it is highly effective on Japanese Beetles that stay on the plant and hang around while you spray, but it is not very effective on any insect that flies away at the first disturbance.
It also appears to kill aphids and possibly ants. Thanks
Tendril power. My muscadines have a pretty good load of fruit and the vines have grown all over the place and it’s getting harder to see the upper part of the trunk and the cordon. The tendrils are powerful and in some cases cause irreversible damage from that constricted location. Most constriction by tendrils aren’t as severe as the picture. It’s almost impossible to remove all of them so I strive to keep the trunk and main cordons clear. The picture was from another grower and he gave me permission to use it.
Curious what everyone thinks. My Nesbitt has been in the ground for a little over a year and is putting out a good number of grapes. Should I let this vine produce 30+ grapes this year or will that be too stressful and cause a lower yield next year?
The vine would probably grow better with the fruit removed but I would let a few stay on for a taste test.
Nesbitt is a very vigorous vine so it won’t really hurt it to mature 30 or so grapes. If it was 30 or so clusters, I’d have a different opinion.
I thought that if any of you are considering growing Oh My or are just starting, this update might be interesting. As of now the vine vigor and disease resistance appears to be about at the level of most muscadine varieties. The vines sold are small and expensive so it takes longer to get them established. This year the vine set a good crop but we have several weeks before they ripen. The cluster size surprised me in that several have 15-20 fruit but others have 4-5. The fruit size is currently slightly smaller than a marble while my Hall and Supreme are slightly larger than marble size.
Muscadine growers: what are your current recommendations for seedless muscadines, if any?
Do aphids just eat the tips of the new growth or can they eat the young muscadines flowers or cause them not to fruit?
Also, if you spray the flowers with neem oil can it cause the fruits not to grow and ripen?
@figerama
If you want to control aphids on grapes and insist on being organic, then I recommend either BT, Spinosad, or Pyrethrin. Otherwise Ortho Fruit Tree Spray is an excellent choice with low environmental impact.
The aphids are not that bad to spray as long as they do not harm to my flowers or young muscadine? have you seen aphids eating the flowers or young fruit?
Aphids on new muscadine planting will damage the new growth if left unchecked. If the tip dies back it will take 10-14 days for the vine to form a replacement. The sooner the vine grows down the wire the faster you can get big crops of fruit (my experience). See Isons videos.
If I need to spray during flowering I only spot spray.
On a good suggestion from another forum member I use Pyganic which is organic. My experience was that BT worked only on insects that eat foliage.
Aphids appear to go after new tender growth of leaves and stems. I haven’t seen them go after the fruit but I guess they could.
