Hi,
Can you tell me how old you plants are and your general location? I have two plants that were planted in 2014, they have nice looking vines but I have never seen a blossom on either my Ison’s Native or Sugargate, so I am beginning of to wonder if I will ever see them fruit. I live in Kent, Wa so our climate here is still fairly cool.
Look forward to your information.
Dennis Dowdy
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Hi Dennis. My muscadines typically start blooming in year two. Vines of your age should be blooming heavily and in full production (50-60lbs vine). I’m going to ask a few questions so I can better understand. Do you prune and what method? Do you fertilize and what type? What zone are you in? What type trellis system do you use? Do you know if others at your lacation are succesfully growing Muscadines? Any other information you think is important? I am in zone 7b east of birmingham al.
Hi Al,
Thanks for your inquiry. I have followed Greg Isons instructional video for two years now. Both vines are trellised on a wire that keeps them in full sun. My hunch is that my zone 8 a here in Washington state may be just too cool to support them. I may be the only one in the state that is trying to grow them, but I have had excellent success with my other grapes and had hoped to get these going as well. Your temps are running about 15 degrees above ours here in May,so it’s possible that as the warmer weather comes we can get into the 80’s by June. Maybe that will make a difference. I can send you a pic if that would be useful. I follow Greg Isons advice on fertilizing. My vines look very healthy but still a mystery as to why they do not blossom
Dennis
Dennis
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I was hoping that you had missed doing something vital but you and I both follow the Ison methods. Works great at my location but I think your right that your cooler location might be the problem. It is a long shot but you could withhold the fertilizer this season and see if next year after bud break you get blooms. If you are watering more than they need to survive you could also back off some. I’m going to send you a private message with some other input.
Great, now I’m panicking that my area is too cold. But I went with the assumption that I would be fine since @BobVance and @scottfsmith are in similar climates as me (in the Greater Philly area).
I guess his frost lows are warmer than mine (8a vs 7a) but he gets lower growing degree days?
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Hope Scott and Bob adds input about this area. Muscadine grow wild everywhere at my location.
Washington state gets very little sun in many parts so that is his problem I expect. Muscadines should be fine in Philly. Maybe not much further north than that though.
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I think that both you and I are on the edge. I threw a lot against the wall to see what sticks. Some of the vines die back in many winters. Nothing died back this winter, when our low was around +10F. But the years with -8F killed most to the ground (I think Black Beauty had at least some above-ground survival).
Also, not all vines are that productive. Some of that has to do with location- my Late Fry is way too shaded and produced 3-8 grapes per year, never ripening. I’m not sure why my Fry Seedless never seems to make any grapes at all, even though the vines on both sides of it (Black Beauty and Supreme) have. Lane (though young) and Black Beauty seem to be most productive. I also found BB to be better tasting than Supreme.
Even if it is my most productive, Black Beauty (planted in 2013) hasn’t come close to the 50-60lbs that Bill mentioned. Maybe a quart. Then again, I haven’t really followed much in the way of a pruning regimen- just tie up anything that seems alive.
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I agree shade is your enemy with muscadines. The first planting I made many years ago had only 4-5 hours of sun and I never got more than a couple berries in 10 years. Then I replanted in 6 or so hours of sun and get a decent crop. I am sure I would be getting a lot more if they were in full sun.
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Got it. I think I will be fine then as I am planning on growing them on top of the trellis I am building above my deck. The whole plan was to actually use the trellis + muscadines for shade during the summer because the deck is against the south side of the house and can get unbearably hot, easily +15°F above the rest of my yard.
@BobVance Our lowest historical lows stay above 10°F, and we get 222 growing days totaling to 3866°F growing degree days: Average Weather in Morton, Pennsylvania, United States, Year Round - Weather Spark
I wish everyone linked to their weatherspark location in their profile, haha. Going to add it to mine.
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I don’t see anywhere on the WeatherSpark page that gives you the historical low. I see that it says you “rarely” get below 13F. But for me, it says that I rarely get below 8F and this is the first year in the last 10 where the low was 8F or higher. More than half the years got down to 0F or below. So, I think it may be giving you too rosy a picture.
The problem is that even if 95% of the time, it is above 10F, there are often one or two days each winter that get much colder. For people, it isn’t as big a deal, as we have the option to (mostly) stay inside. But plants get damaged/killed. This past winter, I kept expecting it and it never happened. I got lazy and stopped trying to protect my figs the right year. Some of them came through fine (and have small figs already) and other look like they were killed to the ground.
I looked at Morton, PA in weather.com and in the “monthly” area, it has historical lows by month.
-5F in Dec
-4F in Jan
-11F in Feb
Of course, for me, it lists -13F, -18F, and -15F, so the historical lows are much worse than anything we’ve seen in the last 10 years. I seem to recall that a lot of the lows are from the 60’s through the 80’s (anecdotally, just from glancing at the historical lows for individual days over time).
I’d really like to find something that gives me something like this (except group by growing season rather than calendar year, as the 2017 datapoint is actually from the same winter as the 2018 value):
Boston:
| Min °F | Date | Min °C |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | January 31, 2019 + | -15 |
| -2 | January 07, 2018 | -19 |
| 2 | December 29, 2017 | -17 |
| -9 | February 14, 2016 | -23 |
| -3 | February 16, 2015 | -19 |
| 2 | January 04, 2014 + | -17 |
| 4 | January 24, 2013 | -16 |
| 6 | January 15, 2012 | -14 |
| -2 | January 24, 2011 | -19 |
| 6 | January 30, 2010 | -14 |
So that is a long winded way to say that I bet your “Normal” lows are higher than mine, but lower than 10F. So the more sensitive muscadines may still die back for you, while the tougher ones may be OK most of the time. If you are planning on them getting big and using them for shade, I think it is even more important to get hardy ones. For me, it isn’t good if they die back to the ground, but it isn’t a big deal either. But having no shade on your deck could bug you more 
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Bob. Thanks for detailed explanation.
Same at my location. My one vine in a shaded area only producers a small amount compared to my more sunny spots. Muscadines thrive in full sun and hot temps.
Most of the muscadine varieties available today were bred from genetics that originated in zone 7B. There are wild muscadines up into parts of KY. I’ve often wondered if selections from more northern locations would be able to survive further north.
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