Thanks for all the info on this thread. I'm not interested in spraying things to death so I guess avoiding vinifera is a good idea as initially planned. I agree there are a ton of awesome tasting fruit you can grow easier anyway. Some are completely new to my palette like the paw paw and I really enjoy them. But one of the only fruit new to me that I haven't been able to appreciate its flavor is the muscadine--I really haven't like it at all the two times I've had it so far--but it must have been suboptimal fruit in terms of ripeness. What muscadine varieties are you enjoying? I heard there are sweets and sours... I think I must have had an unripe sour!!! I might be able to do with the skin and the pits if the flesh was nice--but mine was all bad inside and out. Do you spit the skin? PS You wouldn't even recommend those two vinifera Muscats you like? Even those are big spraying headaches and you don't get much fruit?

Dear Noni, Glad you had a fun time!! Sounds like you made quite a haul. Please post photos of your new plants, etc. Sorry to hear about your ankle....ugh! I gave a seminar to several garden clubs in October, "Getting the most out of your amaryllis through the holidays and beyond!". It was fun and the attendees were very interested and surprised that amaryllis could be grown in the ground here with lots of mulching during the cold. It was really exciting for me. I was "pumped up" and several of the ladies came up afterwards and said they could tell that I must really love those bulbs. I felt like I was converting nonbelievers (of the Hippeastrum type!)...and the garden center than had never sold hybrids in the past had a whole slew of Hadeco plants with scapes (for the ripe price of $16) that sold like hotcakes. I have to say, other than the 250 Hadeco bulbs that I bought from BB, most of the ones in pots seemed a little sickly! Mine are doing great and all the spots on leaves have gone away. Leaves are nice and dark green! We could sweep across the country and convert other to love Hippeastrum and hybrids as much as we do! That should be our goal...spread the word! :-) Kristi

I haven't tried to cross any grapes myself. I did buy and plant a Tomcord from Starks Bros. Nursery. Supposedly a cross of the thompson seedless and concord. I planted it already leafed out when the ground was still cold. It just sat there. When the ground warmed up it really took off. It seemed to be very disease resistant.

This is a fun little experiment so definitely keep us posted. I think we're all learning something here. :) Rooting under glass in this case, to me, means cutting a short section of stem, sticking it either in to a pot of good potting soil, or sticking it in to the ground, and then watering well and either covering the cutting/stem with a bell jar, glass, or plastic bag etc to make a mini-greenhouse. If you have 14 feet to work with, yes "mixing it up" would mean hacking it in to smaller pieces and trying different strategies. If it was mine, I'd cut it in to 12 inch sections (keeping track of which end was pointed to the original roots and which was pointed to the branch tip) and I'd try different strategies: rooting in water indoors, rooting in water outdoors, rooting in potting soil indoors, rooting in potting soil outdoors (covered), sticking some in soil outdoors (maybe some with, or some without, the little greenhouses), and so on, just to improve your chances for success. I bet you'll get some success from one of these methods. I wouldn't add manure etc to the soil where you're rooting them--sometings that can encourage rot or burn etc. I'm sure they'll love it once they're rooted and you're ready to plant them to their new permanent home. Keep the updates coming as I'd love to know what method succeeds for you since I've always rooted only dormant stems (and quite lazily at that with a gentle shove of the stem in to the ground or potting soil in winter). Take care and super good luck! Grant