North Carolina Winegrape Grower's Guide
This 196-page production guide provides grape growers with practical information on site selection, establishment, and operation of commercial vineyards. It includes a new chapter on spring frost control and examines the pros and cons of active frost protection systems.
Visit the North Carolina Winegrape Grower's Guide website to purchase or download the publication.
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Pest Management
This section includes resources on how to combat the common vineyard pests and diseases including, how they spread, their effect on vines and strategies for their control.
General Resources
- Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an ecologically-based management program aimed at reducing unnecessary inputs in crop production and improving overall fruit quality. For information, visit NC State's website.
- N.C. Cooperative Extension Service publishes a Horticulture Information Leaflet by W.O. Cline: Muscadine Grape Diseases and their Control
Fungicide Spray Recommendations
Pest Stewardship Fact Sheets
These fact sheets about working safely with pesticides in North Carolina are published by the North Carolina Environmental Stewardship Project of CropLife Foundation and are available in English and Spanish.
- English Versions
- Spanish Versions
Pesticide disposal and pesticide container recycling is essential! Contact the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Resources Pesticide Section at (919) 733-3556 for general information or visit the NCDA website.
For questions about legal disposal options, contact:
William T. McClelland
NCDA Pesticide Disposal Specialist
4000 Reedy Creek Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27607
Phone: (919) 733-7366
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Weather Links
Whether you’re deciding where to establish a vineyard, timing a vineyard maintenance program or deciding when to harvest, climate and weather information are essential. The following resources can help:
- Weather Bug is a weather data service.
- UM Weather accesses all weather information available on the Internet.
- The NC Cooperative Extension Service provides these helpful links:
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service
- Agricultural Weather Information Service, Inc. (AWIS) charges a fee ($50.00 per month, 3 month minimum, $10.00 set-up fee) to log onto their site for information. For example, one of the reports they offer is a frost/freeze report that predicts 60 hours in advance. For each hour they predict dry bulb temperature, dew point, wet bulb temperature, wind speed, wind direction, cloud cover, inversion layer strength, and dew and/or frost. This includes everything you would need to know for irrigation/wind machine start-up. The referenced page lets you look at samples of all of the various reports.
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Grape Advisory
The North Carolina State University Grape Advisory provides regular electronic newsletters with timely tips and announcements for grape production in North Carolina.
To subscribe via email:
Send a message to almanac@ces.ncsu.edu with a blank subject line and the message body: subscribe grape-mg
Or you can request the advice of your county's Horticulture Cooperative Extension Agent.
For more information, contact:
Barclay Poling, Muscadine Grape Extension Specialist
NCSU Department of Horticultural Science
P.O. Box 7609
Raleigh, NC 27695
Phone: (919) 515-1196
Email: Barclay_Poling@ncsu.edu
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Muscadine (Scuppernong) Grape Growing
Muscadine grapes are native to North Carolina and the southeastern United States. These large, thick-skinned and seeded grapes grow in small, loose clusters and are often harvested as individual berries. They can be bronze or black in color. The most well known bronze variety, Scuppernong, was named the official state fruit in 2001.
In North Carolina, there were 275 acres of bronze muscadines and 71 acres of black muscadines in 2001. In 2002, 23 acres of bronze and 15 acres of black were planted, bringing the total acreage to 384.
Muscadine grape harvest in North Carolina occurs in late August through early October. The grapes are generally packed in clamshells or sold in bulk boxes for custom packing. The Produce Electronic Identification Board has recently created six Universal Product Codes (UPC) for bronze and black muscadines in pint, quart and pound packages.
Muscadine bloom occurs in mid-May. Warm and dry conditions lead to a good fruit set. Late summer hurricanes can sometimes threaten the muscadine harvest. While rain is necessary for young grapevines to become established, hot and dry conditions maximize sugars and flavors in the grapes.
These resources provide information on growing this popular variety:
Documents
Links
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Site Suitability
The following maps are provided to help in decision making and are not recommendations for or against any site or area. Because they are not all-inclusive in terms of conditions at the particular site, they should not replace an on-site evaluation which may reveal other potential positive or negative aspects.
These maps were generated by John Boyer, a Virginia Tech Geographer commissioned by the N.C. Grape Council. If you would like printed copies of these maps, or those more specific to your North Carolina site, please check back later for a request form. This service is unavailable at this time
For an explanation of factors to consider in site selection prepared by Dr. Tony Wolf in Virginia, read his publication Site Selection for Commercial Vineyards.
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Zone 1 |
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Vinifera |
Hybrid |
American Varieties |
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Most Desirable Site |
None |
None |
possibly Niagra, Norton, Most Muscadine Grapes: Carlos, Magnolia, Noble, Sterling, Fry, Nesbitt |
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Good Site |
None |
None |
Most Muscadine Grapes: Carlos, Magnolia, Noble, Sterling |
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Risky Site * |
None |
None |
Carlos, Magnolia, Noble |
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