Showing posts with label muscadines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label muscadines. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

FAQ: When is the best time to prune muscadine vines?

Q. I have inherited my fathers property which include his coveted muscadine vines. He could put anything in the ground and it would grow. These vines are at least 20+ years and it looks as if they need a little pruning. Dad made it to 90 years old and I don't think he could care for them the last couple of years like he use to. There are still some green leaves on them and I was wondering if this month (October) is a good time to do some pruning?  We live in south central Louisiana in case the region would need to be taken into consideration.

A. You could do some pruning now if you simply need to thin out some of the vines or trim them up so they don't run along the ground.  But if you need to do some radical pruning, as described in my Youtube videos, you should wait until the vines drop their leaves and become dormant.  Around here, that would be after Thanksgiving.  Don't be alarmed if the spurs (remaining stubs of the cut vines) drip water during warm spells; the will not "bleed" to death.

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

FAQ: A question about the length of muscadine grape vines

 Question:  I have several 2 year old muscadine vines that are producing well.  The vines hang to the ground.  Am I  supposed to keep the vines pruned back off the ground?

It doesn't hurt anything for the vines to hang to the ground.  They may get in the way of your lawn mower.  There's also the greater possibility for them to be sprayed if you apply herbicide under the vines to kill weeds.  Other than that, there's no harm in letting the vines grow to the ground.

On the other hand, if you wish to prune your vines to tidy up a bit, it won't hurt them in the least.  I suggest you prune them so that they hang no lower than your knees.  I'm assuming that you are growing them on a single wire trellis.