Mrsg47, if you don’t like concord, you may not like muscadine. Yes all 4 taste like supermarket grapes but not as good. Maybe you will have better luck. This year I decided not to spray anything. I have decided to pull out all 4. Here is the results:
Here is how muscadine perform in compare:
Thanks for the pics. I like Concorde I just don’t want all of my grapes to taste alike.
If concord was in my yard, I would pull it out. Then plant more muscadine. Just saying. 
This is my first year to have muscadine fruit on second year vines. A couple of varieties are beginning to ripen and I’ve had good tastes of them. Two other varieties I’ve had a taste of small ones that have softened slightly. Cowart, a dark pollinator is very good, sweet. A Black Beauty is dark and sweet and so far with only early fruit I can’t tell much difference between them. A couple of stray Fry (bronze) grapes have not impressed me…not fond of the taste but much different than the purple fruit. Then there is my favorite so far… a large bronze Muscadine that I HAVE NO CLUE what variety it is! (It’s a long story). All that to say–from what I can tell from my very young vines is there is a big taste difference between the bronze and purple and then I can note a big difference between the two bronze grapes. so they have variety in their tastes. I have 4 more culivars that should fruit next year. Tables grapes in Texas are few and far between but these muscadines are very, very good and very, very easy.
My Vineyard:
Planted this year
Planted last year
Second year plant with fruit
Katy
I share your enthusiasm. There is so many good varieties and they are much better tasting than to old ones. Give them water occasionally and prune and you have most of the work done. 40-60 pounds per year per vine is possible.
Darlene is a very good very large bronze one, you might want to look up its ripening period to see if it lines up.
I actually planted a Darlene this year so should have fruit from it next season. The plant characteristics most closely match a Triumph that I also got this year but I don’t think Triumph fruit is supposed to be very big. I hope one of them matches it or I will have to air layer it to reproduce it because it really tastes good…a different taste that really hits my liking.
I am growing Nesbitt, Triumph and Summit in zone 7A central Virginia. Planted Nesbitt and Triumph last year and Summit this Spring. I am just getting Nesbitt and Triumph to the wire this year, so I seem to take a year longer than most. It may be my lack of will to prune heavily to force growth of the main leader. I have pinched laterals quite a bit, but I’m also afraid to remove too much because I want to make sure there are plenty of leaves in case the Japanese beetles get out of hand. Summit is only half way to the wire, so it won’t get there this year. I’m glad to hear you like Triumph, I’m excited to try it. I actually spotted 6 grapes on it right now, so I may taste it this year. I hope I like Nesbitt, but no one makes it sound very good. It still may be a good muscadine for zone 7.
Does anyone grow Fry seedless? I have read you have to spray them with gibberellic acid in order for them to get any size to them. Are they actually seedless and are they worth growing over seeded varieties?
Hi! How is Big Red compared to Supreme and Black Beauty?
Is it actually red, or looks more black?
It’s about the same color as the berries on my Black Beauty. I love the flavor of the grapes, but the skin is tougher than Black Beauty or Supreme. The flavor is not as good as BB but better than Supreme. Berry size is highly variable. In all a very ripe BR looks like a slightly under ripe black muscadine. It’s red at the top and purple everywhere else. Overall assessment: It’s not very vigorous, and there is nothing super special about it. God bless.
Marcus
I’m looking for a sixth cultivar to finish lining my fence, maybe you have a recommendation?
I’m currently going with Lane, Triumph, Black Beauty, Supreme, and Darlene. I need six vines, so what’s the next best? I don’t think I can ripen late varieties here. I want something special though, to match the best which I think is the ones I have above.
I’m thinking Hall? Or classic Fry? Are there any truly red muscadines that are worth having?
I have Fry. It’s vigorous and productive. It makes nice jelly but not as good as Triumph. It’s sweet. I really don’t see it as special though. Certainly not stand out for me.
Katy
Summit or Paulk are worth considering. Fry IMO is highly productive but lacking in flavor and juiciness.
Darlene is a very good muscadine flavorwise, but production is about 30% the amount of Fry.
Where did you find Paulk?
I’d like to know also.
Confession time. 30 years ago, I bought a priority certificate from Bill Ison. Greg Ison still honors it with a discount and will allow me to purchase a vine or two of unreleased varieties. This is how I got 15-1-1 in 2008 prior to release. I’m not yet sure if he will let me get a vine of Paulk but I am hoping he will when I visit late this fall. http://www.selectedplants.com/gardenphotos/IsonCertificate.pdf
Wow, that’s a neat deal.
I finished planting all 12 of my muscadine vines this past weekend. Looking around the farm, I realized there are some open spots. Ison’s is offering the early bird special with 15% off–they do this every year. I believe they offer even better deals on Black Friday, but I didn’t want them to sell out of any other varieties. Most of these are female, but I’m doing it to determine flavor on my farm. Here is what I got this year:
African Queen
Sugargate
Summit
Sweet Jenny
Triumph
Tara
Unfortunately, they are sold out of Big Red. Muscadine is a drought tolerant species. I plan to give all my vines very minimal care other than a heavy layer of mulch and pruning/training. My previous vines were grown out in 3 to 15-gallon pots. I feel if I get their roots established now they will take off in the spring. My soil is mostly clay, which should help during dry weather.
