How to Grow Muscadines in the Backyard

Locate well-draining soil in your backyard with full sunlight exposure. Loosen the soil to a depth of 10 inches with a shovel. Test the pH of the planting site beforehand with a home soil testing kit. Add sulfur or lime to adjust it so it falls between 5.5 and 6.5, the optimal range for growing muscadine grapes. Also incorporate shovelfuls of compost or manure and rake the soil until it is level.

Install a single-wire trellis to support growing muscadine grapevines. Insert two 8-foot-tall 2-by-4-inch wood posts 2 feet into the ground, spaced 20 feet apart. Attach a length of No. 9 wire to one post using staples, 5 feet above the ground. Extend the wire to the other post, pull it taut and secure at the same point with staples. Continue the process of installing the trellis along the length of the planting site.

Prune back each muscadine grapevine back to two buds before planting it in the spring. Space each plant 20 feet apart in a row, 18 inches from a trellis post. Provide a space of 8 feet between rows. Grow the plants at the same depth, or slightly deeper than the previous planting depth.

Water the soil around each plant until it is evenly moist. Irrigate the plants regularly for three growing seasons to encourage healthy root formation and development. Afterwards, irrigate the drought-tolerant grapevines if the average annual rainfall is less than 30 inches.

Feed the vines 1/4 pound of 10-10-10 fertilizer every two to three weeks after planting. Spread the fertilizer in an 18-inch circle around the base of each plant. Repeat fertilizer application every six weeks until midsummer.

Increase the fertilize rate to 1/2 pound per vine during the second and third year, applying it at the end spring, early summer and midsummer. Feed mature vines 2 to 3 pounds of fertilizer at each application.

Train each muscadine grapevine to climb the trellis. Select the most vigorous shoot on each plant when new growth begins, cutting away the others. The shoot forms the main trunk of each vine. Insert a bamboo training pole into the ground next to the vine and secure the shoot to it loosely with an elastic band. Secure the growing shoot to the pole every week and remove side shoots.

Clip off the tip of the growing shoot when it is just below the trellis wire to force lateral buds. Train the shoots from the buds along the wire to form cordons, the same way as you trained the trunk on the bamboo pole.