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  • From: "philip sauber" <mrtejas@lycos.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Muscadine pruning plans
  • Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 22:30:26 -0500

I find it hard to find a reference that tells in detail how to prune
muscadines into cordons from the beginning to year three. Hopefully someone
with experience can comment on my plans:

Now: Install one wire trellis with posts 16 feet apart and wire 5 feet high.
Plant bare root muscadines in middle of wire, prune back to a few stronger
shoots 8" long or so. Install 5 foot high stake.
When shoots gets to 1 foot long, prune all but one

As shoot grows, pinch off laterals. Tie shoot to stake.

When shoot gets to 5 feet long, cut it off and let two laterals below the
wire grow as cordons.

End of year one: the cordons have grown about 1/2 of the intended length or 8
feet

First year Dormant pruning: prune spurs to 6-8" apart with 3 buds each.

Second year: let spurs grow to 18-20inches and keep cutting them back until
the cordons are to desired length of 16 feet each(32 feet total). Then let
all shoots grow.

Second year dormant pruning: prune spurs to 6-8" apart with 3 buds each.

Year three: Vines are now desired length and spurs spaced to desired width
apart.

I have 2 vines are the beginning of year three, supreme and late fry. I got
a few grapes from the late fry last year and am hoping for some grapes this
year. I have two vines at the beginning of year two, dixie red and black
beauty. This year I am planting darlene, granny val, pam, ison, and sweet
jenny on a trellis. I also have something called mortenson hard hardy grape.




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>From machelp@attglobal.net Mon Mar 24 22:39:24 2003
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Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 22:37:27 -0500
From: charles paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>
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Subject: [NAFEX] Harvesting Alder Seed
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Sunday I was gazing at the bloom catkins on my pair of alders, when I
realized that I had missed
seedpods in fall, I hadn't realized in fall there were any seed on the trees
that year at all.

The pair of alders, a Manchurian Alder, and a New Mexican Alder, I have
planted together in the
hope that by being alone with each other their pollination will be by each
other and the result
will be a North American-Asian hybrid [I have no idea if hybridity actually
will occur because I
have never found a source that says anything about self-sterility or the
ability to
self-pollinate in any Alder].

Now I saw many small dark seedpods, and I got a step ladder and pole pruner
and went to work. In
10 minutes I had a couple dozens pods, in another 10 minutes I had 3 dozen
all of the Manchurian
Alder, and now gazing up the New Mexican I realized even smaller pods in
lesser numbers were on
it, as well. A 3rd 10 minutes had about 10 pods of this in a separate jar.

Out all winter in cold and dry, then cold and wet, then cold and dry again, I
wondered how good
could this seed be? Then I considered that the tree had retained these
seeds in their pods all
through the winter that now by tapping on the side of the glass seed jar I
could see small
little individual seeds come popping out of the pods. If the tree saw fit
to retain the seed
all winter, isn't it likely the tree has a strategy in this, to have kept
its seeds high above
the ground away from chewing rodents and pecking birds in winter?

So now I have to think about what's my best chance to germinate them and
handle them
postgermination:

1] my best most well prepared seed bed is high & dry, drier than the
preferred environment for
these species. It will be challenging to not allow that seedbed to dry this
hot summer.
2] I don't trust indoor germination its too different than the wet cool March
ground outside.
3] I'd like to try crude spagnum moss, but the moss carries no nutrients and
quick transplant or
quick addition of fertilizer would be required.

I favor an idea of putting sphagnum moss in a jar and laying it sideways half
buried in the cool
soil outside, with a perforated lid... this would keep rodents out of the
jar, allow heat out of
the jar, isolate the seed in a weed-free medium so sprouts appearing in the
spaghnum would
almost definitely be of the Alder.

Soliciting suggestions for handling these very small seeds through
germination. [Compare them
to the size of a deer tick].

Charlie Paradise
Massachusetts / zone 5 / where the real Macintosh survives




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