Long skinny grape from Peru

What type of grape is this? Product of Peru.

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Looks like a type of grape I picked up from the grocery store a while back. Moon drop or tear drop. Something drop.

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Moon Drops is the name. We can get them product of the USA in late summer through fall @PaulinKansas6b . Nice and seedless!

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Ok! Yeah Im interested in growing them! :slight_smile:

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Thats a grape known as sapphire. The generic name is finger grapes and they come in every possible color there is but are not commonly grown in this country by home growers.

This one was Moon Drop grapes.

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I wish we had a Wegman’s in Uzes!

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Any idea why that is?

EDIT: Patents? Not available for sale?

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@dimitri_7a
I know they grow some in California so i would assume its a perfect climate. They also have a racket now which they likely dont want changed. There are still some floating around https://www.amazon.com/M-Technologies-Witch-Finger-Healthy-Bare-Root/dp/B07KYT58XJ. When they pop up they sell out quickly and ive had several oppurtunities to buy some. Ive heard rumors of some plants in not only California but also at the University of Arkansas (which could be just unsubstantiated rumors). There are many other plants they are working on developing into cultivars that work in most zones. Love what Arkansas is doing for blackberries! Would love to see the same for elongated grapes, i know they are having some success with regular grape varities! If you are sure you want to go to the trouble here is a link to some cuttings you will need to root grown here in the United States Sanbokan Lemon Tree – Citrus sulcata ‘Sanbokan’ , small starter plant. | eBay
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Buy quickly if you want them now that i posted a link the cuttings may dissappear. Btw you can buy cuttings on amazon as well just search for finger grape cuttings or plants. The seeds likely wont look anything like what you want. I should have seen this old thread but i just found it and it does substantiate the rumor of Arkansas and confirms California Where to buy Witch Finger grape plants or Cotton Candy?. Similar thread here Grapes what the H?. Here is a little more info What Are Witch Finger Grapes - Information On Growing Witch Finger Grapes. Here is the entire story on how finger grapes came to be in the USA by way of Arkansas http://www.innovatearkansas.org/blog/post/480/more-ua-research-purple-witch-fingers
" More UA Research: Purple Witch Fingers?

September 7, 2011

By Mark Carter Halloween is yet a good six weeks away, but news of “purple witch fingers” from the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service has INOV8 thinking of tricks and treats. Purple witch fingers are the byproduct of UA research – a new breed of grapes. See the photo, and tell us that’s not just a little bit creepy. Well, maybe a lot creepy. See the video here. We confess our preference for grapes is more the round variety, but hey, it’s all about finding the niche, right? From nanotech to grapes, UA research is cranking it out. Here’s the full story from the UA (and thanks to Arkansas Business editor Gwen Moritz for sharing). Good, creepy job, guys:

UA grape variety rises from ash pile, becomes parent to exotic ‘Witch Fingers’ FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sometimes research starts down one road, but winds up in an unexpected place. There’s the wallpaper cleaner that became Play Doh and the search for a refrigerant that produced Teflon. Then there’s A-2409. A-2409 is a grape selection bred at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Fruit Research Station in 1993 with the goal of producing a crisp, sweet table grape with an elegant long shape. Breeders hoped it would help build the bottom line for Arkansas table grape growers. “A-2409 was discarded in 2006 due to some fruit set problems, powdery mildew susceptibility, astringency in the skin, and variable crop yields,” said John Clark, professor for the U of A Division of Agriculture. “It was turned to brush pile ash five summers ago,” he said. Back to the future Flash back to 2002, when the university began a cooperative grape endeavor with International Fruit Genetics, or IFG, a private fruit breeder based in Bakersfield, Calif. There are two reasons for this alliance, Clark said. The first was to generate revenue in a program that had no industry financial support. “The other was that when all is said and done, UA has created the most advanced quality in a flavored grape ever achieved, but still these achievements do not meet up with the big table grape world,” Clark said. “And, this is a key way to potentially get the University of Arkansas achievements into the mainstream table grape world.” The table grape world is a big place, with big players in the San Joaquin Valley of California, Chile, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Italy and Australia. “Folks from these places never come down here and don’t even know about grapes in Arkansas,” Clark said. “And the UA grapes do not meet the fruit size, fully and complete seedlessness, crispness, vine architecture that the big table grape world demands.” There was one person who did see the potential: David Cain, a grape breeder at IFG. “He knew what Arkansas had, and had the vision to come and try to acquire genetic access,” Clark said. Genetic access for Witch Fingers was rooted in A-2409. “It was sent to IFG for breeding use in 2002,” Clark said. New life for A-2409 A-2409 was crossed with another public variety. The result is a grape with tubular berries that are almost pointy at one end. Grown, marketed and trademarked as “Witch Fingers,” the grapes have created a buzz among foodies. Chefs are talking about them. Retail analysts are writing about them and New York City’s “Village Voice” blogged about them on Aug. 18 as “Fruits to Scare Children” – just in time for Halloween. The “Voice” included a photo showing the reddish-blue grapes in a grocer’s display going for $7 a pound. “He is looking pretty smart in the table grape world now,” Clark said. Cain is no stranger to Clark’s work. The two have known each other for more than 20 years. “The reason we work with John’s material is that it’s the most advanced material we knew of in the eastern U.S.,” Cain said. “Arkansas had made a lot of progress in getting to an acceptable commercial size.” California’s near-Mediterranean climate allows Arkansas selections such as A-2409 to thrive. “Here, we don’t worry about many of the characteristics such as disease and winter hardiness of the vines and whether it can tolerate the rainfall,” he said. The first cross that led to Witch Fingers was made in 2002, Cain said, with the first fruits appearing in 2004. From there, it takes a couple of years to propagate enough vines in a breeding block to produce a consumer test batch. That’s where Jim Beagle comes in. Beagle is a co-owner of Grapery, a developer and grower of a broad spectrum of grapes, with an eye to unique fruits with vivid flavors absent from most commercial table grapes. Grapery, also based in Bakersfield, Calif., has trademarked the Witch Fingers name. After “seeing all the different kinds of things in the breeding block, these looked so interesting that we started taking samples for consumers,” Beagle said. “The initial response was so positive and there was so much excitement, we planted more.” That was in 2010. “We had more boxes to spread around to different retailers this year and the response was overwhelming,” he said. “We made the decision last winter” to grow more to reach additional retailers in 2013. “I’ve told David to work on a later variety that will work for Halloween,” Beagle said. “He does have a lot of selections we’re looking at with different timing and different varieties – greens, reds, blacks and purples.” Long road to long grapes The U of A breeders are still looking for that crisp, tasty elongated grape that will grow well in Arkansas. Elongation was a goal of James Moore, who founded the fruit-breeding program at the university. Clark collaborated with Moore in the years before Moore’s retirement in 1996. “The elongation breeding done at UA is the key to the Witch Finger development,” Clark said. Our fruit breeding “effort is primarily focused on our farmers,” Clark said. “This is an instance where UA genetics are of value in other locations in the U.S. and world, and it seems only logical to try to have these genetic advances used to create unique products that consumers will enjoy.” There’s plenty of good fruit that has emerged from the program and plenty of new options for the future. The university has released Venus, Reliance, Mars, Saturn, Neptune and Jupiter from the program for Arkansas growers, and there are is another group of five to 10 selections to be released in the next two to 10 years that will be directed to Arkansas growers developed here in Arkansas, Clark said. For more information on fruit breeding, visit www.uaex.edu, http://aaes.uark.edu, or contact your county extension office. Information about IFG and Grapery, is online at www.internationalfruitgenetics.comand www.grapery.biz."
So you might wonder how i know what the other shapes sizes and colors look like finger grapes | eBay
finger grapes | eBay. Please dont anyone import any thing in the USA like plants from other places. There are terrible insects and diseases we dont want but its great to look at pictures. Here is a link to lady finger black grapes instead of witch fingers which is what i would see sold as sapphire in the store if you want them “LADY FINGERS BLACK” GRAPE 2 cuttings for propagation | eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/LADY-FINGERS-BLACK-GRAPE-2-cuttings-for-propagation/254356003475?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item3b38cc9a93:g:Dr0AAOSwFMRdoOzZ . These are moondrop @mamuang brought up but do not order them they are not in the USA Rare moon drop grapes 3 fresh cuttings | eBay
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Dubovski
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Golden finger
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unknown cross
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Various crosses
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So why did @mamuang call the finger grape moondrop and i called it sweet sapphire or just sapphire? They are one in the same grape What is the Difference Between Moon Drops and Sweet Sapphire Grapes? - Eat Like No One Else

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Nice info!!!

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Im getting individual emails asking where to find these grapes like cotton candy etc. for sale discussed at this link Where to buy Witch Finger grape plants or Cotton Candy? . Understand finger grapes may be publicly available and sold which they may call a name like sapphire etc but you cannot use their name if its trademarked or vegetative material that is patented. Im no patent or trademark attorney but can tell you dont use patented or trademarked materials. So i want to post this info requested publicly also. I dont think those grapes such as cotton candy or other types of grapes that are not necessarily finger grapes are available to the public. Some finger grapes are the result of years of breeding and may not be publicly available. In the case of sapphire, moondrop, blue finger grape whatever you want to call it dont use their names if you grow the blue finger grapes. Check with https://www.grapery.biz P.O. Box 970 | Shafter CA. 93263 | Email: Info@Grapery.biz | for additional information since they are the grower for retail in the usa . Believe those grapes are considered their property in the usa. More specifically growers such as the grapery outside the usa are part of a larger group known as ifg and there are many more grapes IFG Grapes You could request they let you do large plantings for university of Arkansas experiments etc. If you are an experimental grower of a commercial orchard. The bigger picture is much bigger and you will realize once you see the ifg website IFG Grapes of all the different types of grapes we will soon see in the USA. More work will be done at the University of Arkansas.

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