Mature vine transplant

[smack]

With 12 hours notice, I found myself with an opportunity to transplant 15 mature "scuppernong vines" from a farm in North Carolina before the new homeowner cleared the land. With limited time to research, I did my best and cut the roots about 12" from center. There really wasn't a discernable head to cut the vines back above ground and I'm pretty sure I have too much stock still above the roots, but I was struggling with the decision making about where to cut. Worse yet, my land isn't yet ready for the vines to be planted. I still need quite a bit of grading before I add fill dirt and top soil to the future planting sites. The area I have in mind was a bit of a jungle, a real swampy mess. Many of these vines have little to no small roots, so I worry about the success rate of these transplants.



In the process I found two metal tags. One said Summit and the other said Carlos, both are types of muscadine.
No idea how old the vines are, but the house was built 70 years ago.

I'm not sure what the next move is but I think I have to make some more pruning decisions

 

[NoQuarter]

looks like you will need a lot of root growth before you let them fruit again. I grow all my muscadines with a single trunk. then two arms. let arms grow 10 ft out each and spur prune.
So i would cut them back to a single trunk up to your wire. remove all but two canes. train those canes down the wire for 2021. cut any spurs that crow back to 6" and remove any other canes that try to grow. If enough roots develop and both arms reach 10 feet you can spur prune next winter and start getting your grapes. Sounds severe but without a strong root system they will not survive fruiting.

 

[NoQuarter]

BTW...Summit is the female and Carlos is the male. Mingle them when planting.
and water regularly in spring and summer till roots develop.

 

[smack]

BTW...Summit is the female and Carlos is the male. Mingle them when planting.
and water regularly in spring and summer till roots develop.

Good to know but I have no idea which is which at this point. Before I got there the homeowner had already let someone else have half of the vines and showed me the summit tag that they found...I only found the carlos tag. Hopefully I have some of both...

 

[NoQuarter]

They were probably mixed up . You should be fine. If a few never produce you could replace those with known perfect flower varieties.
be sure to run a very strong wire... They will reliably produce around 80 lbs per plant.

 

[smack]

They were probably mixed up . You should be fine. If a few never produce you could replace those with known perfect flower varieties.
be sure to run a very strong wire... They will reliably produce around 80 lbs per plant.

Do you think I should cut these down much shorter, or leave them at their pre-transplant height?

 

[NoQuarter]

I would leave 1 trunk long enough to reach you wire. Let 2 of the cordons or arms stay and cut the rest of them off. That will allow the 2 arms to grow down wire while roots develop over the next year. As side shoots or spurs grow from the 2 arms, keep them cut back to 6 inches throughout next season but let the arms grow. Cut off all other shoots and vines from trunk. Way too much mass for small root system

 

[Rice_Guy]

You have damaged the roots a lot, watch the soil moisture so it stays moist. We are in dormant season so it won’t change quickly. FYI folks like northeast vine supply will have vines in a 40 degree cooler/ damp sphagnum moss in winter.
A good project, plants are good friends.

 

[efBobby]

wow, nice find and good work on making the save.

they are dormant so you have a chance. Muscadine are kinda finicky about being disturbed so don’t be disappointed if you lose any and given the uneven ratios of root to trunk the plant may abort the trunk entirely and send up new shoots.

which can be disappointing but muscadines grow fast so not the worst case scenerio.

in addition to what’s already said put them some place shady and preferably humid. Back side of my house is sw facing I think so only a few hours of evening light get through and I put some aestivalis cuttings back there close to a water spigot and rooted them.

you mentioned a swampy mess, if there is a creek anywhere in that swampy mess then set them close to it, maybe even get like the bottom 1/2 submerged or plant them potted in the creek bank.
Idea being shady, humid and cool to help with regeneration. Aka hot, sunny heat will dry them out through transpiration.

reason being running water is fresh, oxygenated water!

By putting in a shady, cool humid area you are giving them their best chance since they are effectively VERY large cuttings at this point! Lol

muscadine are perfectly adapted to live in the shade so no worries there.

worst case you can return to where you got them from and get more bc the roots left behind will almost certainly send up
New shoots!

ps if you want to further stack the odds in your favor then feel free to bury them over the pot line and bury the trunks as deep as you feel comfortable with especially in a sandy creek bank since it’s easier to pull plants out of sand!

even if they look dead wait until late in the season to exhume and check for shoots that have not broken the soil!

good luck!

 

[efBobby]

Just a random unrelated tidbit. If you happen to see or have seen any pitcher plants or other carnivores growing in that swampy mess then hmu especially if you plan on draining it.

 

[franc1969]

No idea how old the vines are, but the house was built 70 years ago.

I think those are dates on the tags, 1999. So 20 years on the vines, which would be a shame to waste on ripping them out. Glad you are going to work on saving some.