Ison Muscadine Grape

Last year at my home they were in full bloom on June 18, and most were ripe August 21, 2016. Lane does ripen a week or two before Supreme and two to three weeks ahead of Black Beauty. Lane is a high quality muscadine. The skin is sweet and tender and I eat the whole grape except the seeds. I have Lane, Supreme, Black Beauty, and Southern Home muscadine/grape hybrid.

Ison is good for its self-pollinating aspect, but I prefer Black Beauty or Supreme for eating - larger, less chewy, more tasty. For juice or other processing it makes less difference. I am going to prune my Ison back more this summer and let other varieties take more space, all I need is enough pollen and I am set.

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What is the cold hardiness of these? Can any be grown in 6A/B?

I just planted two supremes. What is the harvest date in relation to Ison? I assume a little later. Anyone have an estimation?

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Lane in my opinion is as good tasting as Black Beauty and almost as good as Supreme. It also has the tender and sweet skin. I think these three will be hard to beat. The only potential problem might be that Supreme is a little less cold hardy.

I planted Fry Seedless, Lane, Hall, Ison, and Darlene in fall of 2015. All were 2-year bare roots from Ison’s Nursery. Our winter low that year was -12. Lane survived with no winter die back, Darlene died to the soil line, the other three didn’t make it. It’s just one year’s experience, but Lane looks promising for colder climates. I added a Nesbitt and a Triumph last spring and should have a better report in a few months.

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[quote=“SMC_zone6, post:9, topic:8819”]
“Our winter low that year was -12. Lane survived with no winter die back”
[/quote] → Wow, that’s encouraging! Mine are in an attached unheated garage, but they probably haven’t got below 20 degrees. The portable trellis I have them on right now is probably only good for this year. If they survive past that I’ll have to think of something else. Auburn mentioned his were in full bloom on June 18 which seems late for grapes. I bought 2 year old bare root plants as well, and they took so long to show any growth (over 30 days) that I thought they were dead but they all eventually grew a decent amount that first year. Do muscadines wake up kinda late?

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Ison is probably the best of the older self fertile varieties for fresh eating, but for food quality it’s been surpassed by newer self fertile varieties such as Lane and Hall. It was really bred to have more of the flavor profile of wild muscadines and is probably one of the better ones for jam and wine. My two Ison vines have been my most productive muscadines so far. But their flavor is more tart and has a stronger muscadine aftertaste than the newer varieties. The skin is moderately leathery. It’s not as leathery as Nesbit but a lot more leathery than Black Beauty or Supreme.

In theory Lane is supposed to be the earliest black muscadine now. Ison is supposed to be about two weeks behind it followed by Supreme, Darlene and Pam followed by Black Beauty and Big Red followed by Florida Fry followed by Late Fry. But this past season Supreme ripened late and the berries were bland probably because I let it over produce. In addition, Late Fry ripened early with Ison which it wasn’t supposed to do but did anyway. So there you go. Muscadines are going to do what they are going to do, and sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to it. Its much the same with blueberries. The late ones are sometimes early, and the early ones are sometimes late. God bless.

Marcus

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Last year I posted a rough timeline of my Southern Home muscadine/grape. Richard posted several pictures also. If your new to muscadines you might enjoy this thread. Please note these are pictures of perfect flowers/self polinating.

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Thanks for the tip. My Southern Home will eventually get less space when the other more desirable ones get larger. Bill

I am just catching up on this. Great thread, guys!

I was planning on trying Ison in z6b, but now I might try Lane based on the glowing reports here.

Does anyone know if Lane is self-fertile?

I just planted my first muscadine-- a Fry Seedless Red. Not sure if it will survive all of the suprises Mother Nature might have in store for it at my marginal location.

Update: Okay-- I just read that Lane is self-fertile. Wowsers! I’m adding it to my queue…

It is a self fertile offspring of Supreme. It seems like I remember reading that Triumph is the pollen parent, but I could be wrong about that. Lane was expressly bread to be a pollinizer for Supreme in commercial vineyards where the goal was to have a pollinizer enough like the female vine that when they are mechanically harvested together, they don’t stand out as inferior to the vine they are pollinating. However, as it is, Lane has turned out to be an earlier enough ripening grape that its really about finished when Supreme has ripe fruit. My vine is still a baby. I might get one or two grapes this year off of it. We shall see.

Like Supreme Lane is reported to have a tendency to over crop. I have not heard yet whether it will require any special pruning and thinning techniques like Supreme dose. It might be a couple of more years before growers really know how big a problem over cropping is with this variety.

A note about Supreme if you vine does well, it will start over-cropping very badly once it hits about four or five years old if you don’t start thinning it way more aggressively than other muscadines. This past year I thinned my muscadine spurs to six inches apart, which is what you are supposed to do. But I did not cut the spurs to two twigs per spur like Ison Nursery recommends for older Supreme vines, and boy did I see a big difference the the quality of the grapes. They were big but very bland in comparison to previous years. According to Ison, they can actually kill itself with over-productivity. They can literally produce so many big grapes that the leaves starve drop off and then the grapes drop off and the plant does not have energy left to break dormancy the following spring. It may well be wise to watch for that tendency in Lane as our now very young vines age. God bless.

Marcus

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I had the opportunity last year to tour/sample varieties such as Lane, Black Beauty, Supreme, and several others. Not only is Lane self pollinating but it is one of the first to ripen. It doesn’t end there because it is in my opinion just as good as Black Beauty and close to the most highly rated Supreme. If lane does as well in your area as it does in my location you wont be disappointed. I now have three small Lane vines, two Black Beauty, and One Supreme. I also have Southern Home that to me taste more like the wild muscadines growing all over the southeast.

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I haven’t tried lane. But I do like the fact that Ison had been vigorous and easy to grow. Also like the fresh market and also can be marketed as wine or jelly grape. I have noble also. Does great, high yields , disease resistant but small and mainly for processing. I would like something a little later than Ison. Hoping supreme will be it.

Most years my Supreme was less than a week behind Ison. This year it was my latest muscadine over all, but that was because I had let it over bear, and berries just would not sweeten up and never did really. Black Beauty and Big Red are probably better bets if you want muscadines that will consistently ripen after Ison. But seriously, Late Fry is supposed to be the latest of the bunch and it was one of the earliest ones this year. I tend to think that you have to take late vs early with a bit of a grain of salt when it comes to Muscadines. God bless.

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Just ordered Late Fry, Darlene, and Black Beauty.

Has anyone tried Doreen?

Or Carlos/Noble for wine making?

I’m interested in a seedless Muscadine hybrid that tastes as good or better than my Southern Home.

I have ordered a Lane and a Black Beauty to keep my Razzmatazz hybrid company. Will have a report in a year or so.

Richard, Razzmatazz is a seedless Muscadine hybrid that is supposed to have good quality fruit, but I can’t independently vouch for it. (and I haven’t found much written about it on the internet either)

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Planted three muscadines from Isons this morning. My first muscadines. Chose the three staples you suggested Bill. Black Beauty, Lane and Supreme. Thanks!

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Hope they grow well for you.

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