Wild Muscadines

Muscadine grapes are a native variety that do well in the South.  The European-style grapes have plant disease issues when grown here.  There are a number of cultivars that produce very nice grapes (albeit all with seeds--no way around that).  Most or all state agricultural extension services in the southern US have pages devoted to muscadines, e.g., UGA.  Somewhat confusingly, the different states' sites offer conflicting information.  Ison's, a nursery that has developed and patented a large number of muscadine varieties, has a table that more or less lines up with the information available from the extension services (keeping in mind occasional disagreements--which may be related to how different varieties perform in different regions).

There are wild types growing...wild...everywhere in the South.  I have seldom seen any female vines with fruit on them, but when walking through the woods near the well recently, found one growing on an old fence.  The picture at the right was taken in early July.

I was wondering if I'd ever see any fruit off of the plant.  Muscadines are eaten by a variety of wildlife, and north Georgia also has been in a fairly severe drought since spring.  Most farmers in the area have no irrigation (with 50+" of rain per year, it's normally not needed), and I saw a number of fields where the corn crop was lost.  Wheat was not as heavily-impacted, though yields may have dropped, and soybeans got off to a very slow start but some rains arrived in August to keep things going--temporarily.  September has been mostly dry, as well.  The drought has caused a more or less total loss of my own black walnut crop this year; in April and May things were looking decent but all of the nuts dropped early.  Some hickories are dropping now but I haven't opened any up yet to see if they are developed.

I did get a harvest--one grape--off the vine pictured above.  When I looked in early September one was ripe with a couple of others still green.  The grape was tiny but the flavor was okay.  The skin was thick and fairly tart, but overall it wasn't bad.  I hope this plant continues to develop.  It will probably never amount to much because it's under a fairly dense oak canopy.  Still, it's a nice find.  Then again, I may have to cut it out.  If it grows substantially, it might pull down the old fence. The old fence isn't serving much functional purpose currently, but I don't want it to end up on the ground.

I see wild muscadines littering the trail where I run in August, both bronze and black, but they grow high in the trees, so the grapes usually split or at least get badly bruised in the fall to the ground: they are seldom in good / edible condition.

I have a trellis set up for muscadines--more domesticated varieties--but I haven't planted them yet.  I need to get my fencing set up for the vines when they are installed; I have a substantial deer population in the field where they will be going.  That's a project for the off season coming up.