We had a extreme hot (mid 90s) dry spell mid June mid July… then a nice break for a couple weeks with some much appreciated rain… then the dry spell has continued late July until now… just no rain.
Sometimes in years like this a hurricane will come on up this way and give us a good rain… I know those are aweful where they come ashore… but after they make it inland a state or two they can sure give us some much needed rain.
More watering on my schedule today.
Got my muscadines taken care of yesterday… near 100 degrees here yesterday.
Yes, some of us freeze muscadines. I put them in a ziploc bag and drop in the freezer. They are mushy when thawed but otherwise good for either eating or making juice/jelly.
Trev, don’t fertilize them any more this year. September is when muscadines change from soft green growth to woody stems preparing for winter. Any more fertilizer will keep them growing into cold weather and resulting in a dead vine.
Is it common for muscadines to have a ripening period of several gallons of muscadines in the middle of August and then ripen a substantial amount in the middle of September? That is basically what my 3 vines seem to be doing if they do indeed ripen later.
We netted our scuppernongs and that seems to be the ‘ticket’ - for keeping them from the birds. On one wire I have 3 different scuppers. Tara - Summit - Dixie. So far we like the Dixie and Summit the best. But, Tara is a later ripener - so it’s really not fair to judge just yet.
They look delicious. Most of my varieties have already ripened. My two exceptions are Paulk and Black Beauty. These two have been picked one time but both have some late to ripen. I’m tired of picking but I will pick these and pass them on to friends in my subdivision.
I don’t know what to do with all the fruit I’m growing. I don’t know why . . . but I never expected to have as much as I do! I will probably pick what I can use and give away, and then leave the rest for the wildlife. Question: Do you summer prune? I’ve watched so many videos on the advantages of this. It is supposed to lessen all the runaway growth in the spring. I’m a bit apprehensive about exposure to disease . . . but they don’t mention that - other than the usual warnings. To not do it when wet weather is expected. To cut on angle so water will run off. Clean tools between trees - or more.
I’m interested to find out who is doing this - and how they feel about it.
This is the first year that I summer pruned my muscadines. I did this a week or two before they ripened. It will be next year before I know if I did any harm. It made picking a lot easier. There is a nearby you pick and he prunes twice a year during the summer. Immediately after picking I put a couple of handfuls of 13 13 13 out. This will be a learning year for me with summer pruning.
Pressed 50 lb of Carlos and Ison (-3:2), from previously frozen grapes. I got close to 5 gal, slightly pink. Brix is 19, total acidity 0.6 tartaric acid, ratio of -32, which is within the range considered optimal for wine. Potential alcohol 10%. I did not dilute the juice with water, nor did I add sugar.
Not sure how this huge amount of rain is going to affect the muscadines that is unripe. It seems that Francine stalled above my house. Oh well I’m not concerned about watering for a few days.
Dang. We finally got a whopping 0.5 inches yesterday in Williamson Co. The bands of rain kept passing us to the southwest for days. At least it was a slow, soaking 1/2". Definitely not the drought buster that was forecast for here.
Lane is the only one out of 4 varieties that’s survived for me here in zone 6. I’ve had it since 2015, and this is the first year I’mm getting a good crop thanks to a mild winter.
