[NAFEX] Muscadine Arbor - Pruning/Training Q and other stuff
BRosholdt
rosholdt at erols.com
Sun Apr 8 17:46:06 EDT 2007
I am Zone 7a (central Virginia). We got 5" of snow on Friday night. It
melted almost all away on Saturday (my winter lettuces were fine and the
spinach was happy but the snap peas were a little shocked). Then
Saturday night it went down to 23 deg. I guess we get another night of
it tonight. My young apple trees on the north slope have not yet begun
to bud, and the Meader persimmon I don't think was budding yet. The
oriental persimmon, also on a north slope has not shown a lot of bloom
yet, but the warmer peaches had bloomed, and some of the pears, wherever
the orchard was warm...
I received two magnifient grapes from AA Vineyards. The root on the
Mars was impressive, and the Neptune fine. But the row for the grapes
was not ready, so we heeled them into an old cold compost pile. One
week won't hurt, I thought. Ohboy, then this weekend - needless to say
the bed is not ready yet. I am very Much hoping for good weather on
Friday so I can get the grapes planted next weekend. AA Vineyards has
truly impressive vines. I like their catalog too - lots of precise
information about the varieties in text and charts - just the way I like
it. Ison's has sold me my blackberries and I have some Ouachita and
some Kiowa. The plants were very nice - I got the Kiowa late last
spring and they told me it was late. I spite of it, the plants survived
my stupidity and are threatening to grow this year. The Oachita came as
very nice plants, ready to go, and are probably just laughing at the
weather...
I went out to check the Ison and heirloom muscandines I have on an
arbor. The leaves are just beginning to come out. The guy I got the
heirloom root start from tells me I shouldn't prune at all ever, or they
will bleed to death. However, it gets real "stemmy" if you don't prune,
and nothing I've read said you couldn't prune. The Ison book stated
that pruning in the fall was a bad idea. Anyway, I've made up my mind
to prune, but now that the leaves are out, do I have to wait for real
warm weather in May for summer pruning or can I get in there now while
we are having a spate of cold weather - even with the little leaves out?
Also these grapes are being trained up 10' to the top of an arbor. Last
year, Ison got up there with three shoots. The heirloom didn't quite
make it. Lon, I read your book. Should I treat the heirloom like a
regular bunch grape and cut it back down and let it try again? I don't
see a lot on muscadine pruning, and almost nothing or muscadine pruning
on a 10x10 arbor! Suggestions?
Barbara R.
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