I posted it on 'Vines' but figured since it's should a local thing, it might be better in 'Texas Gardening'. We have a lot of Mustang Grapevine growing in our area and I want some. I know it needs to be controlled but I think I have a good spot for it and I really love the jelly...
How is it best propagated?
I had intentions of digging one up in a ditch and simply transplanting it to my front yard but they are so huge! So I just pulled up a runner and divided it into sections. The biggest roots also had a vine on it. Unfortunately now 3 days after planting that section all the leaves are dead.
I also planted 3 smaller sections of the runner (with roots) but of course they never had any vine or foliage so I have no idea if they are dead or alive.
So what do I do now? Still wait and hope or is this already futile because I did it all wrong?
What's the proper way of doing it?
Thanks!
Karin
I want grapevine - how do I get it to grow?
The best time to start cuttings is after they have gone dormant. Take cuttings with 3 or 4 eyes and bury 2 of the eyes. Keep the soil moist but not wet. I've had better success rooting the cuttings in gallon sized pots. I've not tried rooting mustang grapes since my problem is getting rid of them, but it shouldn't be any different than rooting other varieties. They really resent moving during active growth. While dormant you might even try transplanting an entire plant. Since you would be removing a good portion of the root system, prune the top down to a few eyes. Choose small plants.
The other thing to remember is that mustang grape have male and female flowers on different plants so you will need a female and a male plant. I haven't checked our wild female vines to see if they still have grapes. You should mark the male and female vines now.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 8:04 PM
Thanks!
Okay. I guess the plant with the grapes is the female. Can I assume that any plant without grapes right now is male? Or is there a different trick?
And when will they go dormant? It seems like with our mild winters things hardly ever stop growing...
The largest batch I found is where they are going to build a new subdivision. My marked vines might not be there anymore if I have to wait till December, etc.
This message was edited Aug 1, 2007 8:09 PM
It's a pretty safe bet that those without grapes are male. I've also noted that mustang grapes come in two different leaf shapes. See the photo I've included. These vines are all male. I have never seen grapes on vines with these leaves. I remember reading an article that verifies that.
Thanks for all the great info! :)
I haven't seen these wild in my area (maybe I'm not looking hard enough). Does anyone know of any Texas Nursery that sells them?
I think they are mostly considered a nuissance because they take over so easily! I am not even going to plant them in the back where we have trees, etc. but only along the fenceline in front where I can easier control them.
I found somebody that will let me a) harvest some grapes (maybe enough to make jelly already?), b) mark male and female vines for cuttings later in the year and c) would even let me dig up whole plants if I can find ones that are small enough.
If you don't find a nursery I'd be happy to send you some cuttings later in the year? I've looked at the Texas Native and Xerosc. Nursery websites and none of them listed it. If you find one I'd be interested to know who sells them!
I'll check the one's in my area. There are a few that specialize in Texas natives. I'll let you know. Nothing can be more or a nuisance than my Malabar Spinach which is like a jungle vine and snakes up everthing smothering it to death.... haha
I have ten jars of grape jam in the canner right now and three new grape plants at my fence line. None of them carried any grapes though so they might well be all male. One has the fancy leaves and the other two have the heart shaped leaves.
The vines we harvested the grapes from where so big there was no digging them up.
I wonder if grapevine has to get a certain size/age before they carry fruit? None of the ones small enough to dig up had any grapes on them.
Perhaps I get lucky and the two with plain leaves are female.
If none of them survive the transplant I can come back in the fall and get cuttings from the two big ones that had grapes. They engulfed two trees in my friends front yard so should be easy to identify.
This has been fun! Can't wait to try my mustang jam tonight and hopefully harvest at home next year. :) Thanks for all the good advice!
Yay, it worked. The very first runners (with roots) that I cut into short pieces and planted two weeks ago are already sprouting leave buds! I took those from a vine with grapes. Hopefully the male vines in teh neighborhood will be sufficient to pollinate mine. If my potted runners continue to do well, maybe I won't have to go back in the winter for cuttings at all!
