I agree. IF I could grow the Red Flame grapes I buy at the store, I’d go for it.
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I think it was very smart for you to remove some light blocking leaves. As I said in my first post, my grapes at top of my vines, which get most sun, are much darker and solid/uniform in color. They may even be a little sweeter, However, as much as I like the idea of trimming those leaves, I am not sure it will lead to faster ripening. I say that because my Vanessa Grapes that are at the very inside bottom of my vines where they get almost no sun, still seem to be at about the same level of ripeness in terms of TASTE. They have almost no color at all so they don’t LOOK as ripe, but they taste as ripe as the darker, solid colored ones on top. But that is just my limited experience.
As for those grapes in your photos: I’m very worried about those whole bunches and perhaps your whole crop and I fear its too late to do anything about it now. But it looks like you have something more than the usual Black Rot- some kind of other fungus. I’m afraid I have forgotten whether you are a strict organic grower or not, Myclobutanil is a miracle worker on black rot if applied in time.
How long have you been growing grapes? The reason I ask is that you said you have never had any kind is disease. I remember during my third year of growing grapes I said the same thing in a forum here. I still remember that it was @scottfsmith who responded by telling me that is normal for the first 3 years or so that grapes are grown on virgin ground (ie grapes had not been grown) but around the 4-5 year mark Black Rot and other things will likely show up. And like clock work, on the 4th year Black Rot almost wiped me out. So be prepared!
@jxz7245 You will like Vanessa then, it has that same taste and texture but is a little sweeter than Jupiter here at my place. But yes, I know what you mean when you put “in a good way” in parenthesis! There are very, very few fruits where Grocery Store is the level of taste I ASPIRE to but grapes are one.
@Angie : I’m not sure who you were addressing your question to, but there are some other threads where people trade seeds and scion wood.
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ive been growing grapes for about 7 years i think now. we typically have fairly warm and dry summers but this year had been unusually wet… guessing that a contributing factor.
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I harvested my grape crop today, at least most of them, there are a few stragglers that will be enjoyed as I pick weeds.
From left to right it is Vanessa, Suffolk Seedless and then Trollhaugen. We had an exceptionally cold summer, some nights are down to 4C and many are cold enough that we do not even leave the windows open. Everything is late, and I am even questioning if my crab apples will ripen before the frost.
I have the lovely dilemma of too many grapes for us to eat fresh, so I think I will pass them around.
I find that Suffolk Seedless has a very compact and full cluster, Vanessa is more open. Here is another photo of Suffolk S.
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Beautiful!
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Vanessa, Suffolk Seedless do they have tart skin? looks beautiful how do their flavor differ?
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Vanessa has a slightly thicker skin that has a bit of a sour element but the sweet inside offsets it and the sourness is not enough to pucker the mouth LOL. The Suffolk Seedless is a large grape and much sweeter with no sourness to the skin, and the skin is thinner.
I kind of wrote off Trollhaugen as a so- so grape, but I found I must have picked the first bunch way too early. These last grapes were the perfect ‘grapey’ flavour that a concord has, they are a slipskin grape and seedless.
I have one other grape that has yet to fruit and that is Summerset Seedles, I am hoping it will do well next year. Funny thing though, I have tiny grape seedlings popping up all over the greenhouse. I do know that the odd Suffolk and Vanessa do have seeds.
I just put my extra Vanessa grapes into my dehydrator to see what happens.
Honestly, the success of these grapes in my zone 2 is wonderful. And still, I am always aware that with our winters I could lose anything, anytime so I try and not get too attached.
I would encourage anyone in colder zones who has even a tiny greenhouse to consider one grape, grown in the ground. They grow well, love the heat, and provide shade for the other crops in my greenhouse that would suffer in the hot sun. I have all the grapes situated on the west wall of the greenhouse, this allows the sun to reach the other crops until after noon.
They can withstand the -40C winters if laid down and mulched, and ripen with a 5 month season. Started on April 1, and ripe August 20.
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thank you so much for the detail reply! this my first year flame fruited for me i love the taste but the tart skin i couldnt get over it. so im thinking of venessa and suffolk which are the other two popular red seedless table grape. no one talks about the skin tartness of grapes which is important to me. u say they sometimes have seed? i thought they are seedless. i dont like slip skin either so that limits my choices. im have been happy with my himrod but its a white/ green.
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The odd seedless grape will have only one or two seeds in it. I would say maybe one grape in 3 clusters? So it is not a real problem. I was taking the grapes off the clusters this evening and the few grapes that had seeds seemed to pull off, leaving the seed still attached to the stem.
Of the two, my favourite is the Suffolk, it is sweeter, a larger grape, the clusters are tight and huge.
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do you plant the seeds to make new plant? thank you
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I think you can, I haven’t but I do have small seedlings popping up in the greenhouse.
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Currently I have 2 vines each of Somerset Seedless, Jupiter, and Steuben grapes. Due to black rot and downy mildew infestations I am planning on eliminating Jupiter (downy mildew) and at least one of the Steuben (black rot) vines. I am looking for perspectives on some varieties that may have a bit more disease resistance: Petite Jewel, Price, Alwood, Edelweiss, Brianna, Mars, King of the North, Glenora, Marquis, Neptune, Lakemont, Sheridan (a very late season grower), and Yates (excellent storage).
Ultimately, I am looking for disease-free, productive vines, that taste (at least) good. I prefer seedless, but will tolerate seeds. Which would be your top 3-4 choices? Are there any varieties that you would add to the list, considering disease resistance as the foremost attribute I am looking for? By the way, I am located in Central Pennsylvania.
Zombie, I am in central PA as well and currently have Concord, Reliance, Swenson Red, and Everest. I used to have Marquis which was quite good, both flavor wise and in looks, but it died off after only one harvest season due to disease. Swenson Red has been a dog that doesn’t grow very well for me, plus it has seeds, although it tastes fine. Everest hasn’t fruited yet, but I expect it to next year. Really looking forward to it, it’s a seedless very large Concord type. Seeded Concord is a great bombproof grape for us us in PA, I just made some jelly with it over the weekend. Our climate is perfect for it. Reliance has lived up to its name, it’s very reliable and it produces very well with no disease problems. These seedless grapes taste great, and would be a good choice for you.
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@Tunamelt How often do you spray? Due to gooseberries and currants growing under my trellis I aspire to be no-spray in late June and July. My folks in NY have Concord and have black rot issues with it. However, I have seen some local Concords that have looked pretty good. Thanks for introducing me to Everest- I had not heard of that one.
I sprayed a total of 5 times this year: mid May, end of May, mid June, end of June and mid July. The early sprays while grapes are in bloom and post bloom are most important. I feel I could have avoided the July spray, but didn’t want to press my luck. You are right about Concord and black rot, so you do need to spray some. What’s nice is with only 4 vines, I can get away with 1/4 gallon captan or captan/myclo combo, so it is very quick and easy to spray them.
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I am in Western PA and am growing Joy along with others(but these are seeded). This is my second year having Joy in the ground. I got to try 3 bunches off the vine this summer which were good. Definitely a keeper. I definitely have all the pest and fungal pressures from having grapes on my property for almost 10 years but didn’t need to spray it this year. Joy didn’t attract the yellow jackets like my other grapes. They were also too busy trying to ruin my nectarines.
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Thank you Stacy! I have had my eye on the new Arkansas releases, but since they are recent developments, most of the disease susceptibilities have been listed as “unknown.” My grape season comes after my peach season, so my yellow jackets do not have to make the difficult decisions yours do 
@StacGrowingInPa Are any of your seeded grapes disease resistant? I’d love to hear your experiences.
@ZombieFruit
I have Seneca (my favorite), Price (my son’s favorite), Swenson Red, Seedless Concord (not really seedless), Reliance, Canadice. They all require sprays. I mostly get my spring sprays in and sometimes spray in the summer when I’m spraying trees.
Seneca and Price aren’t very big producers but you can’t beat the flavor. I deal with the seeds but if Joy outperforms the seeded ones I will probably get rid of Reliance. Joy seems to be a very vigorous vine so far. The bunches ripen evenly too.
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How did the Nesbitt turn out?