How are your muscadines tasting this year?

Supreme is my all time best tasting. Not sure if it is cold hardy for your area.

My Nesbit is a vigorous grower and looks like its going to be productive, but its skin is leathery, and the fruit is kind of small and tart. It will probably make really good jelly and wine, but there are better varieties for eating in my opinion. I may even end up replacing mine when another new one comes out with impressive credentials. God bless.

Marcus

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If you need a perfect flowering muscadine Lane is excellent.

My lane is still a baby. Itā€™s a new one, and based on my experience so far the new self fertile varieties are so much better tasting than the older ones, I find it hard to recommend the older ones unless you are primarily wanting grapes for processing into wine or jam. God bless.

Marcus

Thatā€™s disappointing. I chose Nesbitt and Triumph because they were listed as top 5 fresh market cultivars for North Carolina. I guess Iā€™ll give it a chance and see how it tastes. I planted both last spring but they didnā€™t grow much. Hope to get them to trellis height this year. May have to try Supremeā€¦Iā€™m almost certain thatā€™s the variety I found at a grocery store last year. They were good, but I bet they are better given more time on the vine.

I think N. Carolina information is a bit dated. Also in the early days of muscadine production and breeding, North Carolina was kind of the leader. On account of the joint work between the University of Georgia and Ison Nursery, Georgia has left N. Corolina in the dust in terms of fresh market production of muscadines and the development of new varieties. Nesbit for sure was developed by the University of North Carolina, and it seems like I remember reading triumph was too. Most of the old varieties were developed ther. The old varieties tend to be better for wine making. And North Carolina still leads the country in the production of muscadine wine. At the end of the day there might be a little nostalgia and state pride motivating the stateā€™s agricultural recommendations with respect to muscadines. Rather since Ison and UGA and the University of Florida own the patents on nearly all the new varieties there is no economic incentive for N. Carolina to promote those varieties. That all may sound a bit cynical. But I canā€™t think of a better explanation for why N. Carolinaā€™s info on muscadines would be so dated when they are the number one producer of wine muscadines and the number two producer of fresh market muscadines. Itā€™s not like they donā€™t have a muscadine industry and no rational for giving the best up to date information regarding varieties available. It just smells like there is a political component to this issue.
God bless.

Marcus

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Looks like a good assessment to me. Purposeful omission of information to me is deceptive at best. Sure makes it hard for a back yard guy to make good choices.

Sounds reasonable to me as well. I think Iā€™ll give Supreme a try and see how the others turn outā€¦maybe replacing later.

Thought I would update you guys. I decided to go with Summit based on the mention of good cold hardiness. It also gets high marks so hopefully will be a good one. Interesting that Isons lists it as a red and most others call it a bronze. Since the two planted last year didnā€™t grow much, I plan to fertilize them this year to try to get them to at least a 6 foot vine.

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LOL Ison lists Big Red as red as well, but mine is purple. A very ripe one looks like a slightly under ripe Supreme or Black Beauty. God bless.

Marcus

A few muscadine varieties.


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Very nice! Whatā€™s your favorite? I have a first year supreme and Darlene.

I have a bunch of mislabeled vines which is what I get for buying them at Wally. One that is labeled Black Beauty (about 1/2" size) has a concord taste. Itā€™s really good. My other black ones that are small taste alike but they are supposed to be different varieties. :grimacing: And my big black one (labeled Cowart) is really sweet but nothing makes it stand outā€¦just big and sweet. I have a bronze that I donā€™t know what it isā€¦my favorite!!! My Fry grapes were small but a lot of them and good. Still like the unknown one best!!! Iā€™ve put some air layers on it. How do you like youā€™re Darlene?

The size and flavor of my muscadines improved in their 2nd and 3rd year so I guess Iā€™m trying to say yours might be correctly labeled.

My overall favorite this year is Black Beauty. I ate several comparing it to Supreme which I have read that it is the top rated. Supreme is large and sweet but the Black Beauty is large, sweet, with a complex taste more like the concord but not exactly. Supreme must be ripe to the point of a dull color where as the Black Beauty is good as it gets dark and beyond. Black Beauty ripens just after Supreme but with some overlap. I have two Black Beauty planted and I will be adding one more this year. Fry and Darlene are good sweet tasting muscadines but I prefer a little more complexity in taste. The bronze types appear to be a little less disease resistant. I havenā€™t tasted Late Fry but it is reported to be very good.

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A couple more varieties of mucadines


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The only one Iā€™ve had so far this year is Black Beauty. But even partially ripe it is very tasty. Iā€™ve sampled 3 so far:

9/21- 12 brix
9/23- 13.5 brix
9/27- 15.5 brix

Nothing has been eating them, so I can let them ripen more. If they were in imminent danger, I would eat them all as they are. Unlike the normal grapes which get destroyed by wasps, the thicker skin has protected them (so far).

I donā€™t have a huge crop, but 15-20 big berries is much more than last year (2 berries).

One thing I noticed is that unlike last year, there are a few small ones on the vine. The small ones are seedless, but donā€™t seem to have ripened as well (7-10 brix when the big one was 15.5). There was a 2nd (larger) big one in the pic, but my wife got it before I could snap the photo.

Thatā€™s interesting- my Supreme vine isnā€™t as far along, just starting to darken. And who knows when (if) Late Fry will ripenā€¦The Supreme vine doesnā€™t get quite as much sun (and doesnā€™t have close rocks reflecting heat), so maybe that explains why mine is so far behind. It also doesnā€™t have very many grapes- just a handful.

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I gave most of my blacks to a family member last year. Only kept Sugargate. Kept my bronze, Darlene, Sweet Jenny, and Dearing. In my yard Sugargate is black, but tastes like a bronze. I used to prefer the blacks until the Darlenes started fruitingā€¦very tasty. In the years we get good heat with enough rain they are all very sweet and tasty. Have way to many grapes. Donā€™t can anymore, so I gave most of the harvest to a nephew who makes wine out of them. Only fresh eat a few.

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Thanks for the update. When your Late Fry ripens please give us an update of your opinions of it. If I add another variety LF will most likely be the one. Iā€™m guessing that it will be very good. From what is reported it is large, self pollinating, bronze, and has a high sugar content 23%. Thanks, Bill

Question only somewhat related to the topic. Does anyone know of a nursery that sells Late Fry as a single plant? Ison"s has Late Fry but looks like they only sell in a six pack. Iā€™m about maxed out with space and I just donā€™t need that many plants. Thanks, Bill

No sure but I think the ones that are seedless didnā€™t get adequately pollinated.

Bobā€“

Did your Fry Seedless Red set any fruit this summer? Any chance for a harvest of those?

The starts you sent me are still alive and sporting modest but significant growth.