I love the two-tone look of these! Is that how they turn to purple? I’ve never seen that before. Really pretty.
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It is a mix. Looks like most do the two tone and some tend to darken at one time. Lane taste best after it is all dark and at least a little soft. Lane is a firmer fruit than most muscadines when it is ripe. Of all the varieties I’ve tasted it has the most crunch when eaten and the skin is sweet.
I came across this technique while looking through the gossip section at the Petals From The Past website. I have never practiced this method but I have been to several of their muscadine classes. The vines are trimmed high and the fruit is always big and sweet. The muscadines is a u-pick operation and some of the steps they go through must be to make the customers experience enjoyable. All I do is trim the bottoms to get the vines off the ground.
Muscadines
Our crews are out combing the muscadines. This term means separating the shoots for ease of harvest, otherwise the tendrils wrap around the vines and make it difficult to pick the fruit. Cut off excess growth. Leave about 30″ to 36″ in length. Cutting off the excess vines puts all the energy of the plant into increasing the size of the fruit. Keep watering well during dry periods.
Black Beauty last year was medium size at best and several dropped before ripening. This year (3rd leaf) the fruit actually might get to the rated 1.25". We have had lots of rainfall this year but I suspect the vines age is also playing a part. The BB I have seen in a u-pick was almost as big as the large Supreme.
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Today I picked my first Hall muscadine and it was still fairly firm. I was expecting tart muscadine taste but what I got was a pleasant sweet and fruity taste. Very good in my opinion and I think the grands will love them. Is this the typical taste of Hall or the long wait influencing my opinion?
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I’m probably over hyping Hall but it is the most different taste of a muscadine I’ve sampled. Sweet and juicy with almost no skin aftertaste. Hard to describe the taste but a very sweet and juicy plum come to mind. I would like to hear others opinion of it even if they are different from my own.
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I’m interested!! Guess it’s an early ripener based on photos of your Lane.
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Yeah that sounds cool! But not a spicy/musky flavor I guess?
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I have only had two and I didn’t notice the spicy/musky flavor. A larger sample size is on it’s way.
Hall appears to be ripening about the same time as Lane.
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Had about 15 Spotted Lantern Flies on my Oh My today. That doesn’t bode well for the future of grapes in my yard. These things are going to wreck havoc. They secrete a substance that doesn’t allow the wound to heal. You can see the ants eating from the opening.
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This is some information and a link about the Spotted Lantern Fly from Google. Looks like it will be a tough insect to control.
-It is considered invasive and a pest of grapes and peaches.Jun 20, 2020.
- There may not be spotted lanternflies splattered on the sidewalk or clustered along the sides of trees and windows. … While the living spotted lanternfly population dies during the winter , their egg masses of 30-50 eggs laid in neat rows remain and survive through the cold to hatch in the spring.Mar 1, 2019.
- Prior to the January 2018 detection in Virginia, the only Spotted Lanternfly (SLF) found in the U.S. was in Pennsylvania. Populations are now established in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and northern Virginia.
Link to map of potential areas of infection.
https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2019/scientists-release-first-map-of-areas-suitable-for-spotted-lanternflys-establishment-in-us-and-world/
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Whoa - I need to look out for those. I’ve seen some similarly-sized bugs flying around but have not paid attention.
A few of my Ison fruits are starting to turn color. Still a few weeks out at least.
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I’m going to be on the lookout from now on for the SL fly. I don’t grow Ison but apparently it is a popular variety. What is your opinion of it? Taste, production etc.
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Ison is among the better self fertile black varieties. It is a very good flavored and very productive muscadine. The combination of disease and pest tolerance plus high production plus good flavor are hard to beat. I don’t think any of the newer releases are quite as good given all the positives.
Here are the negatives:
It tends to overbear which impacts flavor and can make it susceptible to winter freeze damage. Size is not quite as large as some would like. It is also not quite as sweet as Supreme. Manage the overbearing by heavy February pruning and fertilizing in late July to help the plant build up reserves for winter. This also tends to make the fruit a bit sweeter.
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Thanks for the report on Ison and the reminder that I need to fertilize my vines soon.
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My observations regarding Ison are basically just like @Fusion_power
Last year it had a lot of fruit but I had no idea how to tell if it was too much load.
this year It has a lot less fruit; makes me wonder if it overcropped last year after all.
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I decided to try netting my Ison vine this year.
I was hit by RARE engineering inspiration (I have no mechanical common sense). I remembered that my neighbor’s junk pile contains several 20ft metal poles. To complete the stroke of genius, I realized I could make a sort of plywood template to attach to my trellis posts and run the pole through it.
This will allow me to drape the netting above the vine, which is important since some clusters are sorta right on top.
Here it is - now I just have to buy netting somewhere…
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Looks good. I also elevated my net a little this year. Bought 10 packs of the light weight 14’x14’ bird netting at Walmart this morning.
Thanks and thanks for the tip! I was thinking of finding something at least 20’ but fast and cheap is the name of the game,most likely