Sometimes when you work hard (labor of love) to get something established it’s hard to know when to back off. As of 2024 I had about 300’ of muscadines planted and they were starting to produce heavy loads of muscadines that were taking a large amount of time to pick and distribute. This winter I removed about 80’ of vines which left me with considerably more than I can use so more reductions might be in my future.
With the recent cold weather all the leaves have dropped. With the leaves gone it is easier to check the trellis condition. Looks like I will add a few t-post under a couple of sagging areas and touch up my fence charger wire and I will be good for 2025. Last year I Pruned the spurs back to about 1 bud to reduce production and it helped. This year I will probably leave two buds if they are near the cordon. In years past I pushed for the heaviest production but now I prune to keep the fruit load manageable and at the easiest place on the vine for me to pick. My methods are not what most people should do but I’m getting overwhelmed with more fruit than I want to deal with. I love how easy it is to grow muscadines and I also like the pruning. I’m considering letting new upstart growers near me come in and pick for free. Like to hear what others are planning for your 2025 vineyards.
I am going to limit my muscadine growing to 2 vines. Oh my and Isons.
Hopefully I dont get tooo overwhelmed by fruit load with that.
I have a big family and some good neighbors that I can offload fruit too if needed.
My 2 vines grew well this first season… I may try to get a small taste of them next season… and hopefully first real fruit load in year 3.
TNHunter
I’m going the opposite direction. I’ve planted 7 new muscadines (2 bronze and 5 purple) so far this winter. I had some branches I let lay on the ground and root since I’ve heard cuttings are hard with them. I have two vines that are a few years old. I’d like to start making a little wine. If we include cluster grapes, I’ve got 5 concord that are about 4-5 yrs old, a pink seedless I lost the name of, two Niagara and two mars seedless. I may remove the mars and Niagara. Neither has done all that well. I plan to baby them and see how they do this year.
I have Nesbit, Sugargate, Paulk. Scarlett, RubyCrisp, Summit, Oh My, Supreme, Triumph, and Alachua. My vines are young. My Nesbit and Triumph produced some fruit this year. May get a little fruit out of the others this upcoming year.
I have room for one or maybe two more. Thinking Majesty, UGA’s 6-1-269 possible release, Florida Onyx, or Arkansas’ first release whenever that is.
Thinking Majesty, UGA’s 6-1-269 Possible Releases, Florida Onyx Any pictures of these release varieties?
I set out 5 muscadines this afternoon. 1 each of Lane, Supreme, Majesty, Dixie Red, and Summit.
I had 15 vines before setting these out. Now I have to build trellis for all of them except the original five vines planted 4 years ago.
Majesty
https://muscadines.caes.uga.edu/cultivars/fresh-market-cultivars/majesty.html
6-1-269
22 minutes in
Florida Onyx
Arkansas
In interesting trivia, I ordered a Majesty vine from Isons about 6 months ago for fall shipment. It was listed online at the time. Majesty is no longer listed on their website.
The vine I received is a 2 year plant though my order was just for a 1 year. I suspect they had low quantities in stock so sent me the older vine.
@Fusion_power … 20 muscadine vines.
Just wondering what you do with all that fruit.
Do you sell it at a farmers market ?
Making wine ? 1000 pints of muscadine jelly ?
I might want to come down and buy some from you this fall.
TNHunter
Most of my vines are 1 or 2 years old and won’t produce much for 2 more years. I have 3 older vines which should have some fruit. I deliberately kept Oh My small this year by spreading it as 4 growing stems each of which is rooted. I’ll be splitting it in a few weeks. Now it is well rooted, I’ll focus growth on a single stem to reach the trellis.
In 2 years, I hope to have enough to sell if I choose. I also love muscadine juice and may try my hand making some wine.
Is it harmful to “pre-prune” this time of year?
Meaning, remove some of the lanky growth on the fruiting spurs to just clean it up a little.
No, it is not. You can prune any time after the vines are dormant. It’s often recommended to prune as late as possible, but that’s only because it slightly reduces the chances of trunk disease establishing in pruning cuts, because the plant heals wounds much faster when it starts actively growing. It sounds like you’re only planning a rough pruning now, and if you’re going back and doing finish pruning later, it won’t matter even slightly from a trunk disease perspective.
Right. Thanks!
I’ve got two Muscadine here in South Puget Sound, WA. I did not know how to properly grow a grape vine until recently. I did some due research and late winter I’ll be pruning them well.
I’ll get some pictures and opinions on if i should move them later.
Does anyone know how big Gurney’s “premium” oh my muscadine is?
Is it the same 4 inch pot i got from home depot?
The University of Arkansas is releasing 2 new muscadine varieties in 2025. I have both of them growing in my nursery. These are the descriptions of the ‘cold hardy’ new cultivars, said to be cold hardy as ‘Carlos’ (Zone 7):
AM-70: Fresh market cultivar that has better cold hardiness than any of the commercial varieties on the farm.
AM-77: Juice and wine making cultivar. It is said to have done well during cold snaps at a commercial vineyard in Arkansas.
I tasted the juice from am-77 at an event a year or two ago. It was very aromatic, but not as dark as noble. Both were good. We also tasted fruit from am-70. It was good, but not as good as some of the stuff a little further down in the Arkansas pipeline. I would probably just be interested in am-70 if I lived in a climate where muscadines were a bit marginal. Nothing wrong with it, but I can grow any muscadine in my climate. The juice muscadine was more interesting to me because of the aromatics.
Not completely sure, but I would say, as fast as muscadines go, I would not pay more for a larger vine. They should be cut back a lot, if large, when being planted anyway.
Thank you, mine are still kind of scraggly right now. Got it at about 7 inches and it’s over 4ft now but still tiny stems and such
Here is a pictures of the two I’ve got. A squirrel chomped off the Carlos that is in the first picture. Cowart is the squat one in second picture.
These two have been in the ground about two years now and im wondering if I should move them. Maybe just into large pots?
I realize now the Cowart was probably getting a little shaded by the woodchip pile. (Which I just replenished. It was reduced to 1-2ft.)
