Niagara is an attractive, productive and vigorous variety with large, slipskin berries, juicy with a strong foxy flavor. Niagara is the leading green grape grown in the United States, used as a table grape and for juices and sweet wines. Although it has a following, Niagara is not known as a high-quality wine grape as it tends to have an abundance of “foxy” flavors and aromas, especially when ripe; harvest at 14° brix or earlier for wine production.
Widely grown in Ohio and Central NY as early as the mid 19th century and widely used for sparkling wine, Catawba was the most popular grape cultivated in the US prior to the introduction of Concord, and was the major variety used for wine production in Ohio prior to Prohibition. Catawba is a spicy-flavored, red slip skin grape. Clusters are medium to large and well formed; fruit is medium-sized, round and purplish red with a distinctive flavor.
Concordgrape - purple is a hybrid of Vitis labrusca and Vitis vinifera zone 4-8
Concord is the most famous American grape, described by Horace Greeley as “the grape for the millions” with vigorous, hardy and productive vines that produce medium-sized clusters bearing large blue-black berries. Concord grapes are tough skinned, flavorful and highly aromatic - an all-purpose grape used to make grape jelly, juice, and grape flavored soft drinks. Concord is used for kosher wines and as a varietal or blender for sweet wines.
I’m considering what juice grapes could be better? Bulk orders $2.50 each Vine over 50.
I planted Concord Seedless (I’ve seen some people say it’s a sport and others say it’s unrelated to the original, I don’t know which is true) and Somerset Seedless two or three years ago. Both end up ridiculously seedy when grown here in SE PA. And I don’t mean there’s some firm aborted seed bits that form, I mean multiple, woody-exterior (endocarp?), proper seeds. That grow new plants when the birds deposit hundreds of them.
I’ve eaten a bunch of both fresh and made pies with them. My mother hates what I assume is the American “foxy” flavor and doesn’t like the Concord Seedless. Her grandmother had some unknown grape that she tried as a kid and says she despised.
Never tried Catawba, that I know of, I always see it at the big box stores though. I’ve had fresh Concord grapes and juice (Welch’s) of both Concord and Niagara. I kind of would like to try growing Everest. It sounds like a pretty good “modern” palette friendly Concord-like. It’s supposed to be larger, non-slipskin, and actually minimally seedy while tasting very similar to Concord.
I planted a bunch of the University of Arkansas planet/virtue series grapes that are supposed to actually turn out minimally seedy last year. All but one survived the Winter fine (Southern Sensation) and that one is coming back from the base, and I believe it’s on its own roots. I should check. Some clusters forming on them this year, too. And I ordered three of the UGA Muscadine releases because I liked the ones I’ve gotten from the store and people here not that far south of me have grown them. The one muscadine plant has a whole bunch of clusters forming that I’m probably going to have to remove and feel sad about.
I enjoy the American grapes I’ve had (outside of Smucker’s jelly, because the stuff sucks and was forced on me as a kid).
My relatives ( aunts, uncles, grandparents) all seemed to have grown the Concord grapes at their homes. We always seemed to have plenty of those to eat when we would visit them. I can still remember the wonderful taste of the Concord grapes.
I grew them in RI, to make Concord grape cake and pies. I had to. Fight my raccoons for them! A flavor from childhood. They don’t grow them in France. Of all the grapes that are here I thought a wild fox grape would find its way here…a favorite!
I have grown a few grapes but lost interest years ago. I think i will give this one a try next year.. as i want an early fruiting grape and also the brutal summers that i have been having here..as well as lack of seeds and high brix..no issues and no spray.
I gave up on Concord seedless because of seeds as well. But all 3 came from a boxstore so who knows what they really were. I had a Mars in there too.
They all grew great over my chicken run with no spray. Despite the seeds, the grapes were great and productive. The leaves were all healthy. But I decided to go the true seedless route and pulled them in favor of Everest, Canadice, Himrod, Vanessa, and Gratitude. All of them became black rot magnets.
My old Mars always tries to grow back from the crown despite heavy pruning so I decided to just let it grow back out last year. I picked up another Mars from Double A too. I think I may cut all of the other ones out and just let the Mars grow. I suppose it’s possible the black rot is here to stay now (minus spraying) despite whatever varieties I grow.
I really like concord seedless for its hardiness but it’s not seedless in the wrong climates. Our climate like yours is the wrong climate to be seedless. That makes it a juice grape. The skin is tough. The grapes do not all ripen at once. That is both good and bad. The seedless concord frequently have a second crop in my area. Like others I have been told it was a sport of Concord and also that it is in no way related. I believe it is related. If you want a grape that’s not get red canadice.
“Concord Seedless is a seedless sport of the classic Concord grape, featuring clusters and berries slightly smaller than the original. This blue-black grape matures earlier than Concord, delivering excellent flavor ideal for pies and preserves. With moderate vigor and a trailing growth habit, Concord Seedless thrives in USDA zones 4-8. While it’s highly susceptible to Black Rot and sulfur sensitivity, it has slight susceptibility to Downy Mildew and Botrytis and moderate susceptibility to Powdery Mildew.”
The Concord Seedless seems to just be that way in certain climates like Clark said. We have a thread about it on here somewhere with a bunch of people who sourced plants from different nurseries, but had seedy grapes and similarly uneven ripening bunches when growing them in the NE/Midwest.
The Somerset grapes are significantly smaller than the Concord Seedless, and they all had multiple seeds. Taste pretty OK when ripe. They had some hints of strawberry, I think. But while I ate a couple bunches of the Concord and just spit out or swallowed the seeds and made some pies with them (had never heard of it before, somebody here mentioned it I think). The Somerset were only usable for cooking. They were like 50% seed by volume.
It’s possible it was a mix up, especially with Somerset, but I think the Grape Deities may be angry with me. Plus my parents like the more neutral Thompson and similar green grapes from the store, so I put in a couple newer hybrid (hopefully actually) seedless (mostly green) grape vines.
Our concord grapes were near 100% black rot when we moved into our home. I managed it the following 5 years with one early summer Captan spray(first year may have been two applications), which was incredibly successful. I have not sprayed the past 3 years and the black rot has been easily less than 5%. This is over a 8x50ft trellis system and my best attempts at pruning to ensure light and airflow.
Just some food for thought at potential with spraying.
Yeah I hear ya. I considered copper, but I don’t even want to spray that in my chicken run. My main goal is to give them shade in their SW corner…fruit was a bonus. I got a little greedy with the early Concord success and put too many vines of less disease resistant varieties in there. I think this fall I’m going to be more meticulous with cleaning up debris and mummies and limit it to 1 vine on the south side and 1 on the west of their SW corner. As it is now, I have a cattle panel that sits at an angle against their fenced run that the vines climb up. So it’s difficult to get in between tbe panel and the fence.
I have had seedless concords here in TN for near 20 years. They are seedless too.. clusters are small and don’t all ripen at the same time. They are more of a purple than blue when ripe.
Everest Seedles- is supposed to be a ‘truly seedless’ Concord like grape… may try that one instead.
‘The new variety is a cold-tolerant, blue-colored Concord-type, with berries that weigh up to 7 grams – roughly twice the size of the traditional Concord. It is also the first truly seedless Concord-type grape ever released. It’s intended as a table grape – meant primarily for eating fresh, rather than using for jams, juice or wine, as most American Concords are used.’
I’m sorry, I somehow missed they were a chicken run cover. I totally understand and agree, I wouldn’t spray anything either. Unless the run could be moved for a few weeks, the best you can do is keep it tidy. Best of luck.
Yes, these are my seeded seedless concord. @TNHunter has a nicer climate to grow them. The picking is the hard part because it’s one grape at a time. That is why I don’t have a hundred of them.
