According to Tom LeRoy, Agrilife fruit specialist, Victoria Red is mostly seedless. Most will have no seeds but occasionally the grape will have two seeds. It is the only table grape that is suppose to be resistant to pierces disease.
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Right I think Pierces disease is your main limiting factor and Dallas is in the zone of susceptibility. This greatly limits your options.
My kids never went for seeded grapes, but if that was the only kind you ever provided them they would probably think they were great.
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To add another consideration here, if children are too young to spit out seeds, they are still too young to eat all but the tiniest grapes whole. Grapes present a major choking hazard to young children, and need to be cut into safe sized pieces before they eat them. Unlike soft, starchy foods, they will retain their shape without softening or dissolving if they block the airway, a characteristic which increases their riskiness, along with their smooth curvature that lets them easily slip down unintended.
They are yummy and refreshing treats, but do need to be served with caution. If you have to cut them, it doesn’t take that much more time to pop out the few seeds that are in the seeded ones.
Having young children, you were likely to already be well aware of this, but I’d be remiss if I failed to mention it in case someone didn’t already know.
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Hey Muddy yes I was aware of the dangers grapes pose my wife made sure I knew! great post with great info. My oldest two kids are able to eat grapes whole now and they have grown used to store bought seedless grapes and I’ll bet that is what they would want to stick with but we do still cut up the grapes for my youngest so maybe I could get one seeded and one seedless variety. Are there any seedless muscadines?
Oh also fruitnut any reccomedation for a source for the varieties you recommend?
Thanks
I wish! My kids would inhale those. They did like some of the muscadines even with seeds.
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RazzMaTazz
Not sure about the spelling of RazzMaTazz but it is supposed to be the first seedless muscadine. If memory serves me correct it is actually a hybrid.
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I thought that the Fry Seedless was the first seedless muscadine (1983, per the article). Of course, it could be a hybrid as well. This will be year #3 for mine, so I’m hoping for some fruit.
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Fry looks like it has been around a long time. I have been thinking about adding a seedless muscadine because of it’s disease resistance. Good luck with it. Bill
I believe Fry and Fry Seedless are different varieties. See Ison’s catalog.
Bob, Keep us updated on the Fry Seedless… rare for 3 reasons. It is a red muscadine. It is supposed to be among the most cold hardy muscadines. And it’s seedless! I’ve been thinking of planting it (along with the Ison variety).
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Any winter die-back on yours, Bob?
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It does look like a hybrid, the combination of small size and seedless. But the leaf should make all clear, it would be hard for a hybrid to have exactly the same leaf/stem/etc habit as a pure muscadine.
I’m not sure how I missed that guy, I have gone through various lists many times. I think it was not on any of the most recommended lists. See for example
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs100
where it is rated Not Recommended. But, I expect that is mostly about sizing up for commercial production. It looks to be about normal grape size as opposed to monster muscadine size.
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After looking at your link I’m pretty sure Fry is the first seedless muscadine. This information has me wondering if there are some other varieties that I don’t know about. I have room for one more and I want to try one of these. We have 9am tennis this morning and after that I’m going to see what google turns up. Thanks, Bill
Man the RazzmaTaz looks really good. Anyone try that one yet?
Not yet, but that was because my vine was mostly growing on the ground, so I just covered it in woodchips. This year, it has actually made it up to the trellis, as well as having a lot on the ground. I’ll probably cover the stuff on the ground and see if the part on the trellis makes it.
Does anyone have experience with Victoria Red grapes? I just ordered some vines to plant this spring. It is supposed to be one of the very few crisp non slipskin type table grapes that can handle Pierce’s disease pressure in the deep south. It has seeds but that is no big deal to me if the texture and flavor are good, not to mention potential disease resistance. But I have not heard many first-hand accounts.
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Nice video from this Brit harvesting his Lakemont grapes.
I am trying to grow Lakemont and am hoping to see similar results someday…
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Barry, didn’t see your post earlier. I planted a couple of Victoria Red vines last year. An extension expert said they were nearly seedless. In other words, most were seedless but some would have two seeds. It looks like one of the vines might make a cluster this year. Victoria Red does seem to hold good promise in the Pierces Disease areas.
Gary,
It is good to hear someone else has victoria red - we can compare notes as they develop. I planted them this spring and they have grown about 3 ft tall so far.
What is your trellis design? I’d like to go with spur pruning on a low cordon system. I’d like to end up with two 4 ft horizontal cordons per plant on a wire 28" off the ground, then vertical fruiting canes coming off of each. I’m wondering if I can grow the cordon’s this year or if I should grow them completely vertical then snip them off this winter just below the lower wire to build the cordons next summer. I wonder if I can grow them vertical this year then just bend them over onto the low wire this winter, prune to 4 ft long, then let the fruiting canes grow up vertical next year? The latter should get fruit sooner I think, but I’m a rookie so I’m not sure. I guess probably depends on how easily they will bend without breaking.