planting Muscadine

[endorphine44]

I need some advice/reassurance on some muscadine vines I planted about a month ago.
I purchased (4) 3 year old bare vines and planted them the first week of April. I put grow tubes around them and tied them to a trellis. They're about 45-50" tall, but it doesn't seem like they're growing/establishing at all. I'm starting to worry that maybe I killed them somehow.

So how long does it typically take for a transplanted vine to start showing signs of life?
Are the grow tubes doing me any good at all?

 

[grapeman]

It really seems as though vines planted in early April would be growing by now in Arkansas. Do they have any buds showing at all? Have you kept the vine watered but not wet?

 

[endorphine44]

I've kept them watered, we've had plenty of rain, but it stays pretty well drained. It's not the greatest dirt in the world but should be ok.
No buds, I don't see any growth at all on them, but I've had them in blue grow tubes since I planted them. I'm starting to think that may be hurting more than it's helping.

 

[garymc]

Hopefully, they're growing underground. I've had new muscadines be slow to leaf out. I had a couple that I called the nursery about. They said keep them watered and fertilized. One of them was dead and the other was just really late. If your dirt is really poor, you could mix up a weak batch of Miracle Grow now and then. I'm not an advocate of fertilizer on a newly transplanted plant, but I would do the weak Miracle Grow a month after transplant. Having said all that, are you saying there are no buds open at all? Or just not much growth? There is a heat accumulation requirement for muscadines before they will bud out. But most of mine in Missouri that are alive have already. I lost a few vines to the winter this year and I had a lot of them die back to buds ankle high on a 6 or 8 foot vine. If you got them from a place that specializes in muscadines like Isons, I'd call and see what they say.

ps I've never used grow tubes. I've read pro and con about them. If the only buds open on your vines are 6 or 8 inches off the ground, could you see them through the tubes?

 

[gaboy]

I have 3 planted 3 weeks ago, 1 and 2 yr old, not showing growth signs?

 

[endorphine44]

yeah, no growth that I can see, just looks like bare vines, but it hasn't been as warm/sunny as it normally would be this time of year (outside of about 4-5 days last week) so maybe they just haven't seen enough sun and warm weather yet.
I got them from TyTy in GA, I may give them a call and see what they say. I might also try a weak Miracle Grow mix on them this weekend.

 

[garymc]

Gaboy's post makes me think they're just slow because of transplantation and/or a lack of hot weather. Or nurseries all over had their vines killed by the 2 back to back vicious winters we've had.

 

[gaboy]

Gary, How many vines do you have?

 

[garymc]

I HAD about 60. I have had probably 45 of them die back to less than knee high and half a dozen maybe totally dead. I don't know if the apparently dead ones are just slow to come out of dormancy or dead for sure. Most of the damage was from the 2 severe winters, but I also get chemical damage every year that stunts some of them. And this was a special year because the railroad sprayed and killed some.

 

[garymc]

If you have a 5 or 6 foot vine and are just desperate to know if it's dead or dormant, prune off a few inches. If the wood is brown it's dead. You can scrape the bark or look at the cut end and if it's not green, it's dead. I've been pruning and pruning down to green wood.

 

[endorphine44]

Thanks garymc, I'm a little more confident than I was that maybe they're just slow because of the cool/cloudy weather we've had so far this spring. If I don't see anything from them in another 2 weeks I may start trimming to see what it looks like.

 

[garymc]

I'm really curious. How are they doing?

 

[endorphine44]

No change in the look of the vines, but it still hasn't been warm and sunny much around here. We've only had a few sunny days over 80, still getting a lot of rain and cool temps.
I called TyTy and they said not to worry about it, it could take up to 3 months for the root system to establish and start showing signs of growth.

 

[endorphine44]

quick update, apparently time and patients are what I need more of. One of the Noble vines is finally showing life, 1 single leaf at the base of the vine. That means there's still hope for all 4 of them.

Apparently I also need to pull some weeds around them