I am in no way an expert; if someone who actually knows what he/she is talking about comes along, ignore me!

It certainly looks old enough/big enough to train. If it were still dormant, I'd say go for it. But, it is already leafing out, so this is not the ideal time to prune it severely. Maybe you can perform a compromise in which you identify the stem that will become the main trunk and train it up a vertical support, while letting the rest of the plant do more or less what it wants? This winter, remove everything except the main stem (and any side shoots coming off the main stem that you want to keep).

Regardless, you probably will need to prune a couple of times over the summer to thin it out. The way the plant looks now, you're going to have a thicket this summer. The reduced air circulation will promote fungal diseases.

Thank you, L_in_FL. Should i wait til summer to prune or should i take some (2 or 3 branches) off, now? Thanks!

Personally, I'd thin it out now, taking weaker stems and stems that are going in unwanted directions. That should channel more of its energy into growing the stem that you will train into the main trunk. The most important thing this year is getting it settled in and having it make strong healthy growth.

A real expert would probably also tell you not to let it fruit this year so it can put all its energy into vegetative growth and you will get bigger harvests later. I could tell you that, but I'd be a hypocrite...I have a hard time bringing myself to remove *all* the fruit from young plants. But if you let it bear this year, it won't grow as much.

Mostly, stand back and watch it take over your yard. Grapes grow like weeds - seriously.

Laura

Here is a link that might be useful: Muscadine grape pruning diagram

We prune in the month of January. I'm not sure how that would affect it if you pruned it now. Can you ask the horticultural agent at your local agricultural center? They should know the right answer. There is a pamphlet on EDIS you can look up on the computer about how and when to prune Musadines.

When I planted my muscadines,they were in full leaf & had multiple canes.I pruned everything off the main cane & made the top cut,at where I wanted it to form a 'T'.I then kept removing any new growth on the main trunk throughout the year,so that all the growth went to making the strong 'T'canes.I would say prune it now,rather than let it put a lot of growth into a bunch of canes,that will be removed later.You won't kill this plant,they are very hardy.Also looking at your pics,it looks like you might have two plants?Either that,or you have planted too deep?If it is two plants,I would seperate them & give them room.If it is planted too deep,try & replant at a better grade.Or if you have a plant with double canes,I think you should choose the strongest & remove the other.Best of luck

Thanks for all the responses. I went ahead and thin it out pretty tight. @westhamutd, i looked down into the root/base and it looks like i actually have three shoots coming off the main one. I planted it at the level it came in the pot, didnt think to see how much may be covered. Thanks for the tip.

So did you leave all three shoots,coming off the main stem,or did you cut it back to a single main cane?It's not easy to do(trust me I hate pruning mine back),but supposedly the fruit production is better & the plant will get less disease/bug issues-from better air circulation.Mine is currently covered in immature blossoms & I have pruned it into a classic 'T',so I would say it is the way to go.If you have a higher fence/trellis,you could prune it into a double T,which would look something like this:
-----T-----

-----T-----

& give you possibly twice the fruit.
In the dormant period,I prune the fruit bearing canes(the ones that will form off the ---- lateral canes)back to within an inch or so of the lateral canes.This will really give a good flush of new growth/fruit in the Spring.Hope this helps some more :)