Growing Muscadine Grapes in a Pot

Start muscadine grapevines in late winter to early spring for a dormant planting and summertime growing season. Use 15-gallon pots with drainage holes to contain the growth or graduate to larger 20- to 25-gallon pots for these large grapevines.

Prepare your own potting mix with 1 part peat moss to 1 part organic compost and 1 part bagged garden soil. Don't use soil from the garden, which might bring weeds and pests into the potting environment. Mix the soil well, then fill each pot three-quarters full of soil.

Plant one muscadine grapevine in each pot to give them room to grow and stretch. Dig holes deep and wide enough for the root systems of the plants, spread the roots in the holes, and sprinkle soil slowly into the hole. Press the soil firmly around the base of each grapevine to secure the planting and eliminate air pockets.

Prune each grapevine to two to five growing nodes or buds for growth, and put the pots in sites with full sunshine for six to eight hours every day. Muscadine grapevines restrict their blooming and harvest in shady sites. Water each grapevine with 1/2 gallon of water, and put them on a schedule of 2 inches of water every week.

Give each grapevine a stake or trellis for growing support. If you live in a cold zone, where the muscadine grapevines will need to move into the house for winter, put stakes in the pots to keep the vines mobile and self-sufficient. If you live in a warm zone and mean to keep the grapevines outside in winter, put them against a wall and put an arbor or trellis behind them for support and mutual long-term use. Tie the grapevines up to the supports as they grow for training and air circulation.

Fertilize the muscadine grapevines the week after planting with 10-10-10 granular fertilizer, and put them on a schedule of fertilizer every six weeks into mid-summer. Start feeding the plants in spring every year and maintain this feeding schedule through the summer.