SEEDLESS VARIETIES.

All varieties are primarily  for dessert, but most make perfectly acceptable wine also. Note that purchased supermarket grapes are usually hormone treated to enhance grape size. In general, your grapes will be smaller but of much better quality, with a thinner skin. Hybrids have some disease resistance, usually enough to make spraying unnecessary in ordinary situations. I do not find it necessary to spray indoors.

  The ‘strawberry’ flavor referred to can be found in some, but not all hybrids, which have vitis Labrusca in their ancestry. It can be most attractive.

WHITE.

Centennial.. Fine Muscat quality , a large grape for a seedless in long loose bunches. Ripened outside in 2006, but needs a good site. Fruit can crack in wet conditions.

Dawn. An early sort, with large bunches and berries for seedless sorts, of excellent quality when ripe. Should be early enough to ripen outdoors, but under trial.   

Delight. Very early, with a  hint of Muscat in the flavour. Similar to Perlette, but a little earlier . Not, perhaps, as heavy a cropper. Of good quality.

Exalta. New French sort of very good quality, with a delicate muscat flavour and good sized berries. Very good indoors, and will ripen outside in a warm site.

Himrod. Hybrid. Recommended vine. Tried and tested, good indoors or out. Good disease resistance ,fine flavour. Large fairly loose bunches of robust but thin skinned grapes. Mid season outdoors.

Interlaken. Hybrid. Recommended. Another reliable vine inside or out.  Early, robust, disease resistant, enjoyable mild strawberry like flavour.

Lakemont. Hybrid, disease resistant. Ripens with Himrod , of excellent quality. Grapes are perhaps a little larger  with a hint of spice in the flavour.

Perlette.. Very early, of fine quality inside, but does not relish the outdoors. Good crops.                                                                                                                        

Ramdas.. Hybrid, most unusually of Austrian origin. Medium sized  grapes of fine flavour. A heavy cropper indoors, and will ripen outside. Grapes hang well.

Romulus .Hybrid.  Still on trial, but good quality and a big cropper indoors or out,

Spartan. Hybrid. A new sort which is producing enormous easy crops indoors, and of excellent flavour. On trial outside.

Sulima. Hybrid. Good crops indoors, good quality and reliable.

Thompson’s. The standard white supermarket seedless. Too late outdoors, it crops very well inside, with many large bunches of quite small grapes of fine quality.

Thornton. Fine early outdoor grape with a rather good light strawberry flavour . Thoroughly tried, also a very early indoor sort.

A number of other varieties are on trial. Please check my website list for details, and/or phone me between 7 and 9 pm . for details.

 BLACK AND RED VARIETIES.

Black Corinth. Ancient sort, known generally as  the currant grape. The grapes are tiny, but make  fine eating, and are most ornamental. A very pretty vine. Just too late outside. Supposed to be disease prone, but I grow it in a polytunnel without spraying.

Bronx. Hybrid. Pink/red. Fine  flavour with just a hint of strawberry, and a big bunch and berry for a seedless sort. Marginal outdoors, will need a good site.

Canadice. Hybrid. Early red, will succeed outside. Robust and easy to grow.  Good light strawberry flavour.

Crimson. A  very successful supermarket sort. A  red grape of  good eating  quality, but grow  indoors only. Larger grapes than most on big bunches.

Einsett. Hybrid red, of good quality. Performance very similar to Canadice. Another tough vine.

Fantasy.  Black, indoors only, but a promising sort of excellent quality. A large grape for a seedless sort.

Flame. Red, of lovely quality and very early, but tender outdoors and disease prone, must be grown under cover.

Glenora. Hybrid. Small Black grapes but  of excellent quality with thin but robust skins.. Vigorous, fine autumn colour.  Disease resistant ,recommended. Ripens outdoors well, but heavier cropping indoors or in a sheltered position.

King’s Ruby. A fine big grape, but indoors only, and may need some heat to finish to top quality.

Mars. Hybrid, with big black grapes and plenty of them indoors or out. Good disease resistance. The grapes have a pronounced strawberry flavour, much liked by some customers.

Reliance. Hybrid. A particularly  good performer indoors or out, with large crops  of red grapes reliably produced. Very good light strawberry flavour.

Saturn. Hybrid. This will also perform indoors or out, with good crops of red grapes, perhaps not quite as heavy as Reliance. The flavour is  very good, and wholly vinifera.

Sovereign Coronation. Hybrid. Reliable outdoors, with heavy crops of good black grapes on fairly tight bunches. Good eating, with a spicy near Muscat flavour shading towards a light strawberry when really ripe. On trial indoors.

Suffolk. Hybrid. A light red grape, large for a seedless on big loose bunches. Ripens well indoors or out and has a delightful, slightly spicy flavour.

Vanessa. Hybrid. A high  quality early red grape with no hybrid flavour, ripening well indoors or out.

Venus. Hybrid. Very popular black grape at tastings, with just a hint of strawberry flavour. Good production and quality indoors, and on trial outside.

ES 3-22-18. Hybrid. Good quality crops of black grapes indoors, early enough to ripen easily outside. This grape was bred in Minnesota, USA, and should be very tough and disease resistant. Now named Trollhaugen in the USA

Other varieties  are on trial. For details ,please refer to our website lists, or phone me between 7 and 9 pm.

OTHER SEEDLESS SORTS.

A number of other sorts are on trial .No final results yet .Contact me if you are seeking some other variety.
Most of these varieties - and most of the new sorts I am trialing or seeking, are the results of American research and breeding. Since 1995 the EU has made it effectively impossible to import from the USA .However, some continental nurseries and individuals ,being warned by their governments in advance ,did some quick importing .If any reader has any seedless (or indeed any other promising variety) not listed here I am keen to beg ,buy or exchange.