By Clint Thompson
Variety selection is essential for growers interested in planting a muscadine crop. Producers should know what varieties work best before they start planting.
Elina Coneva, Extension specialist and professor of horticulture at Auburn University, focused on muscadine varieties during a recent webinar. She highlighted those that worked well in her research trials, beginning with the ‘Hall’ variety.
“It’s a self-fertile and large fruited cultivar. It is reported to be one of the earliest varieties that farmers can pick, beginning in late July. This cultivar tastes sweet and can be picked early. It produces a very attractive color that reportedly consumers in the Southeast prefer,” Coneva said.
“The cultivar was harvested initially on August 18, 2022, and continued harvesting until first of September. The total yield was kind of a surprise for us. This was the largest among all of the cultivars in our tests. The crop per vine resulted in 61 pounds per vine which is pretty good. The average berry weight was 11.4 grams. Every berry that is larger than 10 grams is considered to be large fruited. Sugars for Hall were 16.5%.”
Another variety that was tested was ‘Lane.’ It is self-fertile and is the first early-season ripening black cultivar. It presents moderate vine vigor and yields lower than ‘Supreme’ but better than female cultivars.
In Coneva’s research, ‘Lane’ was harvested between Aug. 18-25 with a total yield of 33.5 pounds. The average berry weight was 11.1 grams with a sugars content of 16.5%.
‘RazzMatazz’ provides producers another “interesting” option to grow. It is a hybrid between muscadine and vinifera grapes. It is a self-fertile, seedless cultivar. It can be harvested in clusters and fruits continuously along the shoots. It is highly disease resistant which provides growers a key benefit.
In research trials, ‘RazzMatazz’ had an early harvest of Aug. 18. It yields low at 5.6 pounds per vine with a small berry weight of 1.1 grams. But it has the highest sugar content at 17.3%.
‘Paulk’ was the latest ripening variety in Coneva’s research, maturing at Sept. 16 to Sept. 30.
“Yield per vine was very good at 29.54 pounds, and the average berry weight was 16 grams. ‘Paulk’ also had sweet berries with 16% sugars,” Coneva said.
It is a self-fertile, large fruited variety that does not need a pollinizer to produce large fruit.