Southern Home is a unique muscadine cultivar. This vine is self-pollinating, has delicious flavor, and a beautiful ornamental cut leaf pattern. As with popular muscadine grapes, it shares attributes like vigor, disease resistance, and even ripening. The harvest period is mid-season to late. It is important to note that as a vining plant, the overall dimensions of this plant will depend on how it is trained and pruned.
How to care for Southern Home Grape
Light. Muscadine grapes need full sun.
Water. Water regularly in the first year. Fruiting vines benefit from water in May and June; cut back in August and September as fruit ripens.
Soil and feeding. Muscadines want pH 5.5–6.5 and do poorly in limestone soil. In alkaline South Florida soil, lower pH with sulfur such as Soil Acidifier. Feed with a balanced fertilizer in spring and early summer.
Size. About 8–15 ft, depending on how it is trained on an arbor, trellis or fence.
Pruning. Prune from mid-January to mid-March, not in November or December.
Problems to watch. It resists most grape diseases, so it usually needs little or no spraying. Minor leaf spot may show late in the season.
Good to know. Flowers are self-fertile, so one vine fruits alone. Black, sweet berries ripen from late August, sometimes into November.
Sources: UF/IFAS EDIS HS763/HS100: The Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia Michx) · US Plant Patent PP9454: Grape plant called 'Southern Home'
