I am looking for these but also wanted opinions because I got some thomcord vines and then bought the grapes after the fact and I am not impressed…they are NOT seedless!
My Vanessa vines did not wake up but can get replacement from Ison’s, but I heard they were a good choice.
Ison’s also has Everest - anyone try those?
Wondering if I should get NY 47616, anyone have an opinion on them?
I had summer royal from Costco, we really liked them.
I think we prefer firmer grapes…
We really love grapes, I wanted a white, a red and a dark blue.
Anyone have experiences they can share?
Thanks in advance.
I planted several grape varieties this year, including NY 47616. It really struggled to establish and did not start growing until mid June! It is growing now and is far far behind my other grapes. I’m hoping it makes up for it next year.
I did put in an Everest grape. It has medium low vigor compared to some of my other grapes. The plant is very healthy otherwise.
The most vigorous vine by far is Niagara. This thing is a beast and put on 7’ plus of growth so far this year on 2 canes. It incredibly vigorous.
Other than Black Corinth, the variety used to make Zante currants, there are no truly seedless grape varieties. All other “seedless” grapes have seeds that stop development early while still small and soft, but depending on variety and climate, those seed traces can be more or less crunchy. The Thomcords I have tried have had fairly large seed traces. Black Monukka is another one to stay away from if you didn’t like that texture.
If you care about the size of each individual grape, just know that seedless grapes tend to be much smaller than seeded varieties. Most of the giant grapes you see in stores are thinned (manually and chemically) and girdled otherwise they would be the size of large peas. Some newer varieties naturally get larger, but none will be the size of a seeded grape.
Summer Royal is a good variety, but being pure vinifera, will need to be sprayed for powdery mildew. Sulfur every two weeks under the grapes start coloring up is generally sufficient. Since you prefer firmer grapes, pure vinifera varieties rather than hybrids will more likely have the texture you want.
Personally, I don’t bother growing varieties that can be found in stores, as the quality difference between commercial and homegrown grapes is minimal if you’re in a good table grape climate (think Fresno or Bakersfield). If you live somewhere with cooler summers, getting fruit that is even remotely close to commercial quality from the more popular varieties takes a lot of work. I stick to muscats since I like their flavor and hybrids since they don’t need to be sprayed in California.
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I have some muscadines so I would prefer that my table grapes not have large seed traces.
I am in California and have warm summers, but get frost in spring due to elevation.
We have two grape vines of marquis that did a lot of growing this year, came in a Costco multipack deal. We’ve had them over two years and no disease problems yet, knock on grape wood.
No fruit yet either so not sure what I think of the berries yet.
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Thanks for sharing, have you gotten to try the Niagara berries yet?
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Marquis is partially resistant to powdery mildew, so in California it shouldn’t have any disease issues. Once your vines are producing, some removal of lateral shoots and leaves in the fruiting zone after flowering should be enough to keep the fruit clean.
Thomcord and Marquis are both most productive when cane-pruned.
Your spring frosts may be an issue for any variety. Even the hardiest varieties are susceptible to frost damage once growth begins in spring. You can delay budbreak by waiting to prune until the buds at the cane tips start growing. The apical dominance from these buds will give you an extra week or so of frost protection by suppressing growth of the lower buds.
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I have one cluster on the Niagara that isn’t ripe yet. I haven’t tied it, but it’s the variety gown to make white grape juice.
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Did you get to try your Niagara grapes?
Yes, it was quite good! It’s not a table grape as it had thickish slip skin and a seed. However, the flavor was rich and sweet!
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