If you have a trunk split like that, unfortunately, there is no way that you are going to keep the various trunk rot pathogens out. Eventually, a badly split trunk will be a problem, although if it heals, it can last in a diminished state for quite a few years. That’s assuming the vine isn’t completely dead above ground or damaged enough that it collapsed half way through the season. It is possible for trunk splitting to occur with a sudden cold snap either very early in dormancy or very late as the vines are coming out of dormancy and it not necessarily be a direct reflection of midwinter cold hardiness of the variety. However, if you have a vine split it’s trunk in January or early February, which is well after muscadines enter dormancy and well before they come out of it, that’s almost certainly suggests a variety with inadequate midwinter cold hardiness potential for the area. That tends to be the time of year when grapevines are at their most cold tolerant. An adequately cold hardy variety is very unlikely to suffer trunk splitting at that time of the year.
I’m in 6b and planning to try an “Oh Yes” and “Oh My”. I have a small weather station and while every year (in the last 4 years) I’ve had temps <0F I’ve never had anything <-5F. I’m hoping to plant these in a spot that doesn’t get much wind. I might also take them down and bury in winter for the first couple years.
I’ve noticed that young plants have a much tougher time with the winter and I’m hoping if it’s established it’ll be a bit more hardy.
I will also now be paying attention to temp fluctuations (thanks for tip!) Maybe I will try whitewash on the trunk.
I have quite a few things that aren’t supposed to make it in my temps and they do - but I’ve mulched a lot and tried to protect them a bit. I’ve heard mixed reviews on muscadines (of various kinds) making it it my area, but I figured it was worth a try.
Thanks for this info. If the top is still alive I will try to get some fruit this year while also nurturing a replacement vine. Next winter I will whitewash and try soil mounding. Although Paulk is a great grape, I really want the seedless varieties.
I had a Noble vine splitting in the second winter. The vine ended up girdled and I cut it down to the roots. Muscadines are grown on their own roots, so you can let them drive a new shoot and start again. Advantage is that with an established root system, the vine will regrow larger the first season, than a newly planted vine would. If you think that the vine may die above ground, then I would allow sucker shoots to form, so that the roots have photosynthesis support in case the main trunk goes bust, and you can then take one of these suckers and train it up to the wire again.
Have you started pruning?
Pruning is usually pretty quick except I’m going to have to replace an end-post. Probably going to use a H-brace but that is time consuming to construct.
I finished my pruning last week.
I’ve pruned 3 of my 15, hope to get wrapped up in the next two weeks. Have at least on Ruby Crisp that’s got some trunk cracking. If they die back again I may have to go with another varietiy.
I laid down a few muscadine vines/covered with mulch this year. When should these be uncovered and tied to the trellis. I am in zone 7a and average last frost is April 4. Will probably still have some nights in the 20’s, even upper teens are possible I took a soil temp under the mulch today and It was 46 F. The other vine is not showing any buds swelling, of course it could have been winter killed.
There is a lot of Zone 7A currently my plants are under a 16" inches of snow. but I think they already didnt suvive last year living in pots
I probably won’t prune for 4 more weeks.
Why the long wait?
Suppose to be T-shirt weather here this weekend.
I’ve seen the comment to prune downward growing sprouts/spurs. Is there a reason for that or is it just a preference?
I could see with a low wire you would want them started upward or to the side to allow for more growth, but my wire is at over 6 feet high, so I have more vertical space to work with.
Yeah it looks like a warm March is coming but I side with caution. Average last frost date here is around April 10 and I always get hit with a couple hard frosts late.
I live on a multi tiered slope near the bottom of a forested river valley. Cold air pooling and frost pocketing is a problem in late March and early April. I have locations that are no more than 30 feet apart that experience different microclimates.
I’ve lost vines to frost injury shortly after pruning before. Pushing it back the last 2 seasons has helped I think…but more data needed.
Bill Ison says the upwards pointing spurs are bearing more fruit. It also off cause let’s the side shoot growing longer till they need to be trimmed, before they reach the ground.
Grapes push buds on the ends of the canes first, which then gradually works down the cane toward the base. If you prune early, then the basal buds are on the end and push first and get zapped by a frost and you lose the primary crop. If you wait, then only the buds on the ends of the long canes get zapped. Since those were going to get pruned off anyway, no harm is done. You can usually delay budbreak by up to a couple of weeks by pruning late, which for me often makes a big difference in avoiding frost damage.
This works until you have a year with a very late frost. 2007 was such a year with hard frost on April 7th. Even unpruned muscadine vines had all new growth killed. They still set buds and made some fruit but it was not a normal crop.
I try to forget about 2007. Just about everything I had growing was killed to the ground by that freeze. Most things were at the same stage normally seen in late May, and it got down to 12F to 20F depending on elevation around me and stayed below freezing for >30 hours. It even killed about 10-20% of the mature hardwood trees on my property. That was probably a once in a lifetime event.
I ordered a Lane, Hall, and Ruby Crisp. We won’t have two worst Winters in 10 years twice in a row, right? 
Why not grow them in pots the first year, move them inside for next winter and then early spring 2027 plant them permanently in the ground?
When I grew mine in pots They did not do particularly well. and died after the second year. I am going straight into the ground this time.