I’ve been using about 5 pounds of 13-13-13 per mature plant but only on plants that carried a heavy crop.
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Are you doing this on late fruiting varieties? Right after harvest?
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I intend to use my double tub cider press that has a grinder as well. Not sure if that will work for small size grapes like Nobel. Does anybody know?
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Read this thread. I posted what I do and why just a little above here. Wild muscadines produce about 1/4 as much fruit as modern selections. Varieties that overbear go into winter depleted of reserves and are susceptible to cold damage including vine death. Fertilizing post-harvest ensures survival and significantly increases crop the next year. Also important with varieties that overbear is pruning very heavy. I normally leave 1 or 2 buds per spur and prune the spurs to be farther apart. Most of my mature vines produce 100 to 200 pounds of fruit each year and in any given year several need post-harvest fertilizer.
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I thin my grape bunches on seedless table grapes. They usually set two bunches per shoot and I take off the small one. And on those bunches with a long tail on the bunch, cut the tail off.
That would seem like a useful strategy on muscadines that over bear. I try not to let anything over bear. That improves fruit quality, assures annual bearing, and reduces stress on the plant.
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Your heart is in the right place fruitnut. An overloaded muscadine will take longer to mature the fruit, often so much longer that partially ripe clusters will be hanging on the vines when frost finally kills the leaves. This is when removing clusters could be beneficial. I have rarely seen plants loaded this heavy. I have not had this problem since I adopted heavy spring pruning and post-harvest fertilizing. It may still be applicable for someone who has a vine that is overwhelmed.
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As in my case I suspect that it also happens because my vines are located too close to fruit trees. For example, my scuppernong vine has a plum tree 12’ away and on the other side has an apple tree 13’ away. Overcrowding is not good.
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My vines are starting to show changes in the leaves and it won’t be long before they start to drop. I add 13-13-13 after picking but not so much. I add about two hands full under each vine. How much do you need to add I don’t know but as of now I haven’t had any vines die during the winter and they really grow out fast the following spring. I’m becoming convinced that the fertilizer addition after harvest is helping.
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I still have tons of Paulk fruit on the vine ready to pick.
This Paulk vine went nuts this year. Pruning it is going to be an adventure.
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Auburn, you will know for sure it is helping when you see that each year increases production up to about 10 year old vines. Weak vines are slow to break spring dormancy. A couple of handfuls of fertilizer is about a pound. Consider increasing as your vines age. A 10 year old vine can use the extra.
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Starting to notice that deer have no interest in my muscadines. I have several unprotected vines and they are not eating the foliage or fruit. Kind of hard to believe.
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This is something that I’ve wondered about. Has anyone else observed that deer don’t bother to browse on their muscadine vines?
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They haven’t touched mine. They cut through the back of my property all the time but never drift up toward the vines. Muscadines are probably not something they’ve seen here before but this time of year they are usually very adventurous.
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My muscadines are fenced in and I have a low electric fence so deer haven’t been a problem for me. I have friends that have had deer problems mostly when the fruit ripens.
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I converted a crape myrtle into an arbor with 4 vines. They completely cover the tree and hang off the sides down to the ground. I thought the deer would prune them for me, but they have not for years now. Even now the ground is covered in fruit after I got tired of them and they don’t want that either. Really weird. They destroy everything else. They like the things that cost money most.
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Deer have left mine alone. They definitely prefer apple, then plum. The squirrels and possums love the fruit, though.
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The original Mother Vine is still alive on Roanoke Island North Carolina. Although it is Not the grape that is the cultivated variety Scuppernong it is the oldest living muscadine vine at around 400 years. Once it sprawled at an acre in size it was trimmed back to a manageable size of 30x100 according to land owner interviewed in 2012.
Unfortunately the vine portion near the power line was sprayed with herbicide by power company in 2010. Once was the damage was noticed it was cut back into healthy wood to stop the translocation of the herbicide. It has since recovered.
It is a historical site and people can stop and view the vine. Years ago Duplin Winery was allowed to take cuttings. They have a block of 134 vines that they make Mother Vine wine from. According to the wine maker, their goal was to produce a wine that tasted like the grape with a light kick.
Pic is current Google Earth taken in winter. New growth is directed towards empty trellis area.
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All very interesting. I’ve got a Scuppernong vine. Doubt very seriously that it came from the Mother vine. I’ll ask the garden center where it came from.
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The named cultivar Scuppernong was selected from a wild vine growing near the Scuppernong River a county over from the Mother Vine. The name Scuppernong was attached to it in 1811 after going by various names like Roanoke and Big White.
I don’t see any references to the Mother Vine’s fruit quality or being propagated other than for making wine. There are plenty of newspaper articles over the years about it but most are paid access. Which is a gripe of mine. Old news is old news so make archives free.
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I prune mine in end of March or mid April. You have until they leaf out. Mine leaf out in May
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