I’ve seen them down to -5F with no damage. BUT! Some varieties are more sensitive. Granny Val is one that can only be grown near the gulf coast. Flip side, Carlos is known to be more cold tolerant than most muscadines.
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Paulk and Supreme are the varieties of primary interest to me. I’ve read that they’re more cold sensitive, but I don’t know precisely what that means in terms of degrees. Have you grown either of them?
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I’ve grown both and currently have several Paulk vines growing. Both tend to overbear.
Muscadines that tend to overbear heavily usually are cold susceptible the winter after overbearing. The way to handle this is simple. Just after harvesting the crop, give each plant about 5 pounds of 13-13-13 fertilizer. The plants MUST have enough growing time to absorb the nutrients and prepare for winter. If you don’t give them extra nutrients, the vine is likely to die over winter!
So to state this succinctly, Paulk and Supreme both have average cold tolerance. I grow them here in southern Tennessee. I know from experience that they will overbear which can lead to winter kill therefore I take the precaution of fertilizing them just after harvest.
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Thank you! Can I correctly surmise then, that Paulk and Supreme can both survive -5F if properly fertilized after harvest?
Does thinning the berries have the same effect? Or have you noticed fertilizer being a more reliable method?
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Fertilizing after harvest is very reliable. I have never thinned a muscadine. A very heavy crop will delay ripening for a few weeks but is otherwise a non-issue.
I can’t guarantee muscadines will work for you. What I can say is that both Paulk and Supreme have cropped for me and neither was damaged by temps as low as -5F.
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