Male or Female

[Ernest T Bass]

When I purchased my muscadine vines, the lady was talking about male and female vines. As I learned more about muscadine vines, I ask her how you tell the difference. She said "you can't". Does anyone know how to tell. The reason I am asking is that after I pruned my vines I decided to try to root some, well I tried to root about 200 and I thing 199 took root and are living. Some are black males and some are bronze females, but I don't know which is which. Anybody know how ?
Semper Fi

 

[grapeman]

You will pretty much have to grow the vines and hope you can get a few flower clusters this year. If they do, check them as to if they are complete flowers or have just male or female flower parts. If you can tell, then you will know for those few vines, othrwise you will have to grow them long enough to flower and or fruit.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Grapeman, please more details on "Check them as to if they are complete flowers or have just male or female flower parts". I don't know what I'm looking for.

Thanks
Semper Fi

 

[GreginND]

Here's a good description with pictures of the flowers of both genders and the hermaphrodite.

http://www.ristcanyonvineyards.com/html/tip13.html

 

[Ernest T Bass]

Thanks Greg, looks like some good information. I searched the internet and didn't come up with anything, guess I entered the wrong word.
Thanks
Semper Fi

 

[garymc]

I have both self fertile and female muscadines. I've tried to detect the difference by looking at the flowers with a magnifying glass and my reading glasses. I know which of my plants is which, but if I didn't, I don't think I could tell the difference for sure. Self fertile muscadines tend to be more productive, but there are new varieties coming out that break that rule. I clipped some flowers of each and tried to put them next to one another for comparison, but the flowers are so delicate, that they were tore up by the time I got to where I could examine them.
Do you know what varieties you have and which vine is which variety? I have 13 varieties and I know which are self fertile and which are female.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

I have about 80 vines. Of the 45 I planted this spring, I know the variety and which are male and female. I also purchased 4 male "Ison-Black self-
fertile" that I planted in the woods behind my house, hopeing to get the wild muscadines to produce. The others I bought from a nursery (and I use that term lightly) and they weren't marked in any way, I ordered scuppernong's and the third year I found out I had a variety of some kind of muscadine and 1 scuppernong. I have also looked at the blooms and can't determine which is which. Question: the first thing that comes on the vine looks like very small berries, will these turn into blooms or is that the bloom?
Semper Fi

 

[garymc]

That first little pinhead thing will open up into a bloom, then the little petals and stuff fall off and it again looks like a pinhead only a little bigger and from there it just keeps getting bigger.

 

[Ernest T Bass]

garymc, I'll be watching for it.
Thanks
Semper Fi