Can someone school me on muscadine grapes?

[SaltyNuts]

I remember when I was a kid here in Houston I once found some wild grapes at a creek near my house. They were AWESOME. They had a very thick skin, but the taste was different from the table grapes we all eat from the store, and I loved them. Only found them one time. I did research way back when, iand I think they were "muscadine" grapes, a type of wild grape native to here in the states (live mostly in the south I believe).

I want to get some, I've actually been wanting to get some for years. Any tips or tricks? Do I need to get a male vine and a female vine both, and then only the female vine will make grapes? THat would suck a bit if so, but fuck it, they tasted THAT GOOD from what I remember.

Thanks for any help!

 

[pcgeek11]

Willis Orchard Company

Male and female scuppernongs & muscadine grapes offer different possibilities! Fill your orchard with these delicious grape vines from Willis Orchards.

www.willisorchards.com

At the web site you can purchase the male and female vines as you desire. You should have Male and Female for better results.

So whether you live in the deep south or the northern United States, muscadines are a delicious, healthy, and easy grape to grow in your home vineyard. Just remember to plant male and female muscadines and scuppernongs to ensure huge crops of scrumptious grapes.

Grapevine Pollination Needs – Are Grapes Self-Fruitful

Most fruiting trees must be cross-pollinated, which means another tree of a different variety must be planted nearby the first. But what about grapes? Do you need two grapevines for successful pollination, or are grapevines self-fertile? Click here to find out.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

Muscadines, on the other hand, are not self-fertile grapevines. Well, to clarify, muscadine grapes may bear either perfect flowers, which have both male and female parts, or imperfect flowers, which only have female organs. A perfect flower is self-pollinating and does not need another plant for successful grapevine pollination. An imperfect flowering vine needs a perfect flowered vine nearby to pollinate it. The perfect flowered plants are referred to as pollinizers, but they also need pollinators (wind, insects, or birds) to transfer the pollen to their flowers. In the case of muscadine vines, the primary pollinator is the sweat bee. While perfect flowered muscadine vines can self-pollinate and set fruit, they set much more fruit with the aid of pollinators. Pollinators can increase production by as much as 50% in perfect flowered, self-fertile cultivars.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Hahaha pcgeek, that is the EXACT site I remember I was looking at to order grape vines years ago. With the depressing male and female vines. But even more depressing - while they say you really need male and female vines, ALL their muscadine vine selection of males differs from all their muscadine vine selection of females. In an ideal world, especially if you want to preserve the cultivar or whatever, shouldn't one be looking for males and females of the same exact cultivar?

Thanks!!!

 

[pcgeek11]

In an ideal world, especially if you want to preserve the cultivar or whatever, shouldn't one be looking for males and females of the same exact cultivar?

Thanks!!!

Really can't answer that question. Maybe contact them via the toll free number and ask the experts.

Willis Orchard Company: Call Toll-Free: 1-866-586-6283