Muscadine Grape

Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia)

Scuppernong, Southern Fox Grape

Full sun, medium to well-drained moisture, tolerates clay and sandy soils, pH 5.5–6.5; poor drainage is the most common establishment failure.

Vigorous deciduous vine climbing 60–100 feet by tendrils; lobed leaves 3–5 inches wide; small greenish flowers in May–June; fruit clusters of 3–40 round berries (3/4–1.5 inches), bronze or black-purple, ripening August–October; spreads by layering and bird-dispersed seed.

Propagation by hardwood cuttings in winter or softwood cuttings in summer; named cultivars grafted onto rootstock for commercial fruit production.

Native region: West and Middle Tennessee, primarily in moist bottomland forests, forest edges, and along waterways; less common in East Tennessee.

Muscadine is the only grape species with disease resistance sufficient for unsprayed production in Middle Tennessee's humid summers — the thick skin and loose cluster structure resist the bunch rots (Botrytis cinerea, Plasmopara viticola) that devastate European wine grapes in the I-65 corridor's subtropical humidity. Self-fertile cultivars ('Carlos', 'Noble') fruit as single vines; older straight-species selections may require a pollinator plant. Muscadine must be trained on a trellis system with annual pruning of lateral spurs to prevent fruit production from migrating out of reach. Fruit is attractive to wildlife including white-tailed deer, raccoons, and box turtles. Distinguishable from other native grapes (Vitis spp.) by the non-forked tendrils and distinctive musky fruit flavor.