Do any of you have experience with KOTN, especially flavor profile? I have a friend here in the U.P. who wants to put in a large planting of grapes, and is leaning toward Concord. I am trying to dissuade him, being as Concord, from what I have seen only ripens consistently every other or third year here. I have 5 KOTN vines myself, and they are my most vigorous grapes followed by Marquette and Brianna. This will be there third leaf. I aborted the fruiting clusters last spring, because I read that it is best to not let grapes bear till the third year. KOTN has seen -20 with no die back whatsoever. My queries are; does it actually consistently ripen before Concord, how early before, berry size, and is the flavor comparable? I’m in zone 5A, my friend is in zone 4B.
Concord in the U.P.? I too would be concerned on how often the fruit will not fully ripen in time before it freezes out with the short growing season up there.
I grow Concord in Southern WI and it ripens nicely for me the last week september/first week october depending on the year. I would be afraid to even try growing it that far north in the U.P.
But why pick Concord? Is it the flavor, fruit size, yield? Not sure why your friend wants it. It does make great jelly and juice. However, I have heard from friends who grow King of the North that it makes far superior grape juice than Concord. I can’t vouch for that as all my grape juice has been made with Concord.
That far north you may want to try Bluebell, an old variety from Minnesota. Much hardier than Concord and will ripen earlier. Lower in yield however. But suitable for colder areas with short growing seasons.
I am not sure why he wants to go with Concord. I figure it is just the old name recognition thing. He’s looking in to jelly and preserves, I believe . I have neighbors who grow it, and in mid-October it may somewhat ripen in a warmer year, but more often than not when they pick it, it is somewhat dry or astringent, and not fully ripe. I did have Brianna ripen up here last year, I missed a cluster when I was thinning. They ripened for me nicely. I’m glad to hear that your friends think the flavor of the juice is superior to Concord. Hopefully, I should have a good idea as to ripening time of most my great varieties this year. I had a Blue Bell vine, but I lost it to wilt.
i planted kotn and marquette at the same time on a staked 16’ cattle panel. both put out decent growth the 1st summer but kotn didnt come back the next spring. we had 3 days of -40 that winter but kotn is z3 hardy and marquette is only z4. maybe the tags got messed up at the nursery. anyway what ever it is its doing well but not overly so like ive read kotn can be. my father grew concord in z4 and got a crop every year.
I grow King of the North. Very good Concord-like flavor. Maybe even better. Produces well. Much earlier. The downside is very small berries.
Thanks, that is very good to hear. Earliness and hardiness are the big 2.
KOTN, Valiant, Beta, Chontay, Siposka are flavorful ones I heard were good far north growing. Can’t personally vouch for them.