How to Bury Muscadine Shoots to Root

In the wild, muscadines propagate sexually from seed or asexually by root layering.

More than 400 years after Sir Walter Raleigh first discovered muscadine growing prolifically on the coast of North Carolina, this bronze and purple-black grape continues to both thrive and captivate. The first native American grape to be cultivated, the muscadine -- known locally as scuppernong -- contains resveratrol, a compound found in French wines, and touted as having anticarcinogenic and cholesterol-lowering properties. Scientists at Mississippi State University predict muscadine may be the next big alternative crop in the Southeast. Muscadine grows vigorously and is easy to propagate, either with softwood cuttings or through root layering, a process known as pegging.

Things You'll Need

• Knife
• Pruning Shears
• Pine bark propagation mix, or a 1-1-1 mix of peat, sand and bark

Instructions

1. Locate a healthy, low-growing muscadine shoot and bend it to the ground. Make successive shallow cuts along the area of the shoot that makes contact with the ground, roughly a 4- to 6-inch area.

2. Cover the bent shoot and the cuts you made with soil. Leave the tender shoot tip exposed. If necessary, use a brick to hold the base of the shoot in place against the ground.

3. Remove the shoot from the ground in the fall, when the vine is dormant. After only a month, roots should have formed on the buried portion of the shoot. Cut the shoot into rooted sections using sharp pruning shears.

4. Plant the rooted sections in outdoor beds or in pots containing pine bark propagation mix, or a 1-1-1 mix of peat, sand and bark.

Tips & Warnings

• Propagate with only healthy, productive vines that are free of disease or injury.

• Muscadine grow best in well-drained and aerated soils with a pH near 6.0.

• It is illegal to propagate patented and copyrighted muscadine plants without written consent from the patent or copyright holder. Failure to do so can lead to prosecution.

• Clean cutting tools in rubbing alcohol or a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water to prevent transmission of diseases from infected plants to healthy ones.

References

• United States Department of Agriculture: Agricultural Research Service: America's First Grape: The Muscadine
• University of Florida: Propagate Ornamentals and Muscadines
• North Carolina State Cooperative Extension: Propagating Muscadine Grapes

Resources

• Mississippi State University: Establishment and Production of Muscadine Grapes