History

• Muscadine grapes are native to the southeastern United States, but commercial exploitation extended the range to the West Coast. In 1810 Dr. Calvin Jones discovered the first muscadine to be given a variety name. Quality of fruit varies from plant to plant, and Dr. Jones believed the wild vine he found in North Carolina showed commercial promise. The variety name scuppernong became synonymous with the more general term muscadine.
  
  

Training

• For home or commercial production, the simplest support system is a trellis. In a single-wire trellis system each vine will need a space 10 feet by 6 feet. The posts of the trellis support a single wire that runs between 5 and 6 feet above the ground. After planting, new vines are pruned back to one stem and two to three buds. In spring the weaker shoots are pruned away and the strongest is tied to a vertical stake. Side shoots are cut away to force upward growth. When the vine reaches the wire, two lateral shoots are trained to either side. A scuppernong should reach full height and length at the end of the second season.
  
  

Pruning

• Scuppernong vines fruit on canes sprouting from second-season growth. In a grape orchard the growth habit of the vines must be controlled by pruning, both to encourage fruiting and to facilitate harvesting. In late winter, vines are severely cut back. Select two of last year's fruiting canes to keep and prune them to within 4 inches of the main stem. Each lateral cane should have two or three buds. The canes growing from those buds will bear this year's fruit. Pruning scuppernongs is an annual task--uncontrolled vines produce more canes than grapes.
  
  

Propagating

• Varieties of scuppernong grapes are propagated by layering. To create new vines, bend some of this year's fruiting canes down to ground level and bury the ends. Leave the tips of the vines uncovered. The canes will root in place, and in the fall when the plant goes dormant the new growth can be severed from the parent. Transplanting new muscadine vines is best done in the spring when the chance of frost is past.
  
  

Tips

• Muscadine grapes are southern plants and seldom produce well in planting zones with a winter minimum below zero degrees. In the correct climate, scuppernongs will flourish in a variety of soils and are very disease resistant. Some older varieties like the Fry scuppernong bear only female blossoms and need a companion with both sexes of flowers in order to set a crop. Carlos and Magnolia varieties are both excellent fruiting vines and pollinators.