Razzmatazz muscadine is described as the “World’s 1st Continually Fruiting Grape”. What does this mean? I am in upstate SC so muscadines do very well here but I don’t have much knowledge in them. I’d like to grow razzmatazz muscadines because I find the flavor to be much better than other varieties
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Where did you read this?
Razzmatazz is “continually fruiting” in that it has a very, very long harvest window. For most people, it will start ripening in late summer or early fall and keep ripening up until the first frost.
My understanding is that this long harvest window is not due to staggered ripening of already set fruit, but due to the plant actively flowering and setting new fruit over a very long period. But I could be mistaken about this detail.
It is not fully muscadine, being a complex hybrid. Despite that, a friend of mine grows them in the red clay piedmont of eastern NC where they do quite well for him.
Seedless, self-fruitful, as easy as any muscadine (big strong trellis, and you’re good to go), extremely long harvest, bunch-grape form, and a sweet, juicy fruit with a less overpowering muscadine flavor, it’s certainly a really good backyard gardener grape. Space-limited as I am, I’ve considered growing it.
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This site uses that verbiage, as I’m sure others do as well. I noticed Gourey’s and Home Depot’s listings of the grape say the same.
NC State has a reference to them as
a continuously fruiting vine producing very small, red seedless berries growing in clusters
The publication also notes that it was developed by the same breeder as the Oh My! cultivar.
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Several of the vinifera cultivars bred by Harold Olmo in the prior century have the “continuously fruiting” characteristic as described above. It can be desirable for home gardeners but is undesirable for commercial production.
Consequently the “World’s First” proclamation is an erroneous advertising claim.
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Can be undesirable, though not necessarily so in the fresh fruit market, especially for products with limited shelf life and poor shipping qualities.
I suspect they are missing the word “seedless.” Razzmatazz may indeed be the first commercially available seedless continuously fruiting grape.
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There are also Pixie grapes, which are dwarf and bloom and fruit continuously due to a mutation affecting gibberellin signaling, derived from the periclinal chimera Pinot Meunier. They fruit so much the quality is poor unless you thin fruit frequently. Not really useful except for rapid breeding.
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Not by a long shot.
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Fair enough. Any of those with V. rotundifolia?
I got one when it first came out. I let the birds eat them as I find them bland compared to real muscadines.
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They are a novelty at best I’d say. I have two vines going into their third leaf at my house this year. I’m growing them more for aesthetics than a delicious fruit.
The fruit is sweet-tarty in flavor. Birds did eat them but later in the summer left them alone largely. The little stems don’t come off easily so I just eat them without bothering.
This coming summer should be much more of a show as they grew in caliper a lot last year.
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I tried them at my local U-pick last year and really liked the flavor. Especially compared to regular muscadines.
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As expected one year later and the vines have gained quite a bit in caliper.
First growth is loaded. Too bad they are so damn small ripe!
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Much larger vine in their third year. If these were conventionally sized fruit, I’d have to thin heavily.
Starting to open blooms here and there.
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Noticed what I assume are roots coming off a node on one of my Razzmatazz vines. Strange as this is a spur on my main cordon about 7 feet above the ground.
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From what I understand Muscadines sometimes air at damaged nodes or spontaneously. in either case they are not considered a problem. And perhaps you can remove that segment later for a guaranteed rooted clone.
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That is definitely some sort of novel virus. I definitely happen to be a scientist who studies muscadine viruses. You should definitely cut off that piece, wrap the roots so they don’t dry out, and mail it to me so I can study it.
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If it weren’t patented I would.
It’s a curiosity for sure.
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