# Transplanting Muscadine vines?



## Sugar Plum (Aug 1, 2010)

On our last trip to Callaway Gardens, my husband and I found a giant muscadine vine that someone had trained to a trellis. It made a nice shady area for a bench and looked nice too.

I want to do something like this in part of the yard and I'm not sure how to go about it. Is it possible to transplant these vines? I see them growing in a hundred different places around the huge bush we have out front, but none are in the right spot. 

Would it be easier to just start from seeds? Anyone ever tried this?

Here's a pic of what I'm talking about:







Thanks in advance!


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## dawg2 (Aug 1, 2010)

You can buy the vines from a nursery which is the best way if you want fruit.  I believe I read that 80-90% of the vines in the woods are male so you won't get fruit.  If you want them to grow FAST they take a lot of fertilizer.  So much in fact, it will burn the grass around thevines if you do it right.  Check with your extension office and you can get the literature on growing them, or of course you can google.


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## CollinsCraft77 (Aug 1, 2010)

Interesting. So let's say you find one with fruit in the wild, how would you go about transplanting it and when would be the best time to do so?


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## Sugar Plum (Aug 1, 2010)

dawg2 said:


> You can buy the vines from a nursery which is the best way if you want fruit.  I believe I read that 80-90% of the vines in the woods are male so you won't get fruit.  If you want them to grow FAST they take a lot of fertilizer.  So much in fact, it will burn the grass around thevines if you do it right.  Check with your extension office and you can get the literature on growing them, or of course you can google.



Thanks! I figured I'd hear something from you (I mean that as a compliment).

I'll check it out. I think I'll end up buying them. No need to rush them, just want to get it started pretty good.


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 1, 2010)

CollinsCraft77 said:


> Interesting. So let's say you find one with fruit in the wild, how would you go about transplanting it and when would be the best time to do so?



When its dormant, its all about the root ball!


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## Twenty five ought six (Aug 2, 2010)

Wild muscadines have  a long tap root, and are hard to transplant.  You want to do it in  the dead of winter.  That means that you have to mark it now, come back in Dec. or Jan. and dig and plant.

To improve success, you should also root prune it when you mark it.

Truthfully, I'm all for the DYI, don't spend a dime more than you have to approach, but an improved plant from someone like Ison's Nursery is just a so much more reasonable approach.  

Actually, if you included all the time and transplanting shock, it would probably be easier to root a cutting next spring if you found a particularly choice vine.


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## justforfun (Aug 2, 2010)

Wild muscadines  or most any vine is easy to start. Find a producing vine, dig a hole and just lay one of the vines in the hole and cover with dirt, it will  root I think by spring , then just cut it from the original plant and transplant !


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## bnew17 (Aug 2, 2010)

I had 4 vines i had planted at my camphouse about 5 years ago. This year i decided i wanted to transplant them to my house now. I dug them all up and got as much of the root as possible. 3 of the 4 died and the one that lived is very healthy looking but does not have any fruit on it.


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## shakey gizzard (Aug 2, 2010)

justforfun said:


> Wild muscadines  or most any vine is easy to start. Find a producing vine, dig a hole and just lay one of the vines in the hole and cover with dirt, it will  root I think by spring , then just cut it from the original plant and transplant !



That is called layering, much easier but takes longer!


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## Twenty five ought six (Aug 2, 2010)

shakey gizzard said:


> That is called layering, much easier but takes longer!



Yes, you can actually take a plastic pot, fill it with planting soil, lay the vine across it, make a small scrape on the bark, and cover with planting soil.  Then in the fall cut the vine, and you have a potted plant ready to transplant.


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## blues brother (Aug 3, 2010)

I have over 600 feet of vines. All my plants came from Ison's. Best I can remember, I planted them all late fall/early winter.
You will need a pollinator, I think I chose the "frey". It produces lots of small grapes. The rest of my plants were "sweet jenny", "pam"....brain freeze....can't remember the others. All of the others were promoted to produce very large grapes with a high sugar content.
The first year/spring will take some time to train the vines. And make sure the structure the vines will climb is VERY sturdy. This time of year my vines pull the wire down 10-12 inches! This may sound like overkill... I would make an arbor out of steel and set it in concrete below the frost line. It would be a shame for it to collapse after a couple of years.


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