I have an Ison's that produces and would recommend it to others. I've since ordered other varieties, but they're not in production yet, so can't compare. Would point out though that Ison's is self fertile, the other varieties you list are females that would require another vine like Ison's to get fruit. I eat them fresh off the vine, and make juice with the rest. They're a great source for ellagic acid and resveratol (much higher than other types of grapes).

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Someone in your area growing these would be able to give the best evaluations. The U. of Arkansas did a trial in a zn 7 area from 1987-1998, that is probably the next best thing to look at.

Briefly, they found the following:

'Ison', "Yields for 'Ison' were usually low. Fruit quality was rated highly except for flavor. Fruit rots were observed but were not severe. Vine hardiness was the poorest of all entries tested, and by 1997, all vines had died from winter injury."

'Darlene', non-precocious fruiting tendency, but otherwise highly recommended.

'Black Beauty', excellent fruit quality, but not very hardy. Recommended for warmer sites.

'Supreme', not evaluated.

'Sugargate', top-rated for flavor, excellent disease resistance, above average hardiness, moderately productive.

See link below for a much more detailed account of the trial.

Here is a link that might be useful: Evaluation of Muscadine Cultivars

Thanks for the posts. So far I'm seeing Ison's as a possible problem for fresh eating, according to the U. of Arkansas and mrtexas, but Gene, you did not seem to have a problem with taste. Is that correct? They certainly look terrific in that picture. I could skip Ison's except it is the only pollinator on my list.

This I don't get - Edible Landscape lists Ison's as "probably the best muscadine grape available. Large black sweet fruit." Could their soil produce a different taste, I wonder? The same with Mortenson - Edible Landscaping says it is "the best grape to grow for great taste and large fruit in the southern U.S., including Houston... The fruit is tasty and sweet..." Is there a good explanation for this? Perhaps I should look at catalogs with a little more suspicion. Call me gullible.

My highest priority for the muscadines is fresh eating taste. I had bought some delicious sweet black muscadines at the grocery store the other year but I couldn't find out what variety they were, so I'm hoping one or more of these varieties will be just as good.

Gene - I glanced at your page, and that is an impressive list of fruit you have growing. What do you do with all those figs? I haven't tried figs yet but perhaps I will some day. Also, do you like that Chandler blueberry taste? I sure would like to grow a blueberry that size.

I'm a bit surprised at Arkansas rating Ison's low for hardiness and productivity, neither have been issues for my vine (which I got from Edible Landscaping). Perhaps it's due to differences in local soil and climate.

I like eating them fresh. The only fresh grapes I had growing up were those I picked off my grandmother's muscadine vine, so I'm quite used to eating them, hull and all. Ison's I find to be better tasting than what my grandmother had. I find store bought grapes like Thompson Seedless insipid -- just goes to show everyone has different tastes.

I would not be surprised that varieties like Supreme and Black Beauty may have better fresh eating qualities as their average brix level is listed as being higher. I'd suggest getting one Ison's and then as many of the other females as you have room for. You can reserve the Ison's for juice and jelly and the others for fresh eating.

My orchard was very recently established, so many things, including the blueberries, aren't in production yet. What figs the birds and squirrels are kind enough to leave me are eaten fresh.

I'd say the Mortenson grape is the best LOOKING grape you can grow for large fruit in the south. I'm not the only one I know who has pulled it up because the fruit is inedible fresh unless you squeeze out the middle and throw away the skin. IMHO Ison grape tasted worst out of the muscadines I have grown. It's easy to exaggerate when you are selling, especially something that won't bear for 3 years. Did you ever read the Oregon Exotics catalog? Best example of creative exaggeration(lies) I've ever seen in a garden catalog.

A hint for harvesting muscadines grapes: wait until they are fully colored, then wait again until AFTER they've lost their gloss and become dull. You'll get a much more flavorful fruit this way.

I was hoping to find out how to identify a plant prior to fruiting. I bought several plants at nursery closeout auction 2-3 years ago. They were unmarked but clearly muscadines. They are growing like crazy this year, but since they haven't fruited yet I don't know if they are self-pollinating or not. The plants are full of little bright green panicles this year. In previous years there were few panicles. I haven't seen any actual flowering yet.

If the plants are not self pollinating, should we just plant a self pollinating variety within the group or tear out and start over (less appealing!) The vines have grown along the top of a fence.

We'd use them most for fresh fruit eating.

I disagree with the opinion about several of the Ison's muscadines.First,the Higgins variety is not black and I certainly don't think it's a loser.It bears huge crops of large sweet muscadines.The Pam variety has large clusters and many of the grapes are the size of quarters.I have been growing muscadines for 30 years here in north Ga.I have had few vines die from cold even when it's dropped below 10 degrees.

Hi guys - ressurecting this thread cause it's good info! I also e mailed Mr. TExas...would love to hear updates! I just ordered 7 muscadines from Isons.

Living in N Florida Gulf coast, I have been growing muscadines for 6 years now. Higgins are my favorites. You need to let them ripen until the shine is gone as stated previously but they are delicious. I also hear that Sweet Jenny's are great. The Higgins give us plentiful harvest with 3 plants and we always prune them as suggested by growers. Quite severely in fact. The Higgins also are thick skin so many people pop the grapes from their skin, I prefer to eat the who grape excluding the seeds.

Beware. If you plan to order from Isons. My whole blackberry patch is now
contaminated for 5 years with crown gall, had to destroy all plants and a
wine grower here with like 200 plants has crown gall on all the plants from
Isons. If you do order from them get a signed certificate they have been inspected for crown gall and certify crown gall free plants such as tissue cultures berries

Why is one man's treasured named muscadine...another man's trashy named muscadine? One possible reason: Grapevine buyers assume that the labels are accurate. Don't bet the plowing mule that they will be.Another possible reason: Just like one kid in a family is tall and slim, his brother may be short and fat. Grapevines are on a long genetic leash. Last guess: Everything surrounding the vine causes the vine to become different. Soil...temps...moisture...light...etc.......

I am a big fan of Noble. It is so rich in anti-oxidants. Makes a great rich wine. More cold tolerant than most.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit links

Regarding Edible Landscaping, a company from which I've bought a number of plants over the years, I think you must prefix any description of a plant's flavor with words along the following lines: "Of plants that can be grown in the humid mid-Atlantic along organic lines with minimal attention to disease and pest control, variety X tastes ..." This nursery is pretty much concerned to provide relatively trouble free varieties for the backyard grower, not to provide the best tasting varieties. This does not mean that they don't sell excellent tasting fruit; for many things, like figs and persimmons, they do. But for other things -- say, apples -- ease of growing trumps other factors and the varieties they sell are not the best (or necessarily the worst) tasting varieties.

I agree whole heartedly with austransplant. We should make disease resistance as big a factor in recommendations as taste. Nutrient levels should also be a big factor. Fortunately, our lab tests for nutrient levels of Muscadines has improved markedly over the last several years. We now know that Muscadine skin has no resveratrol. It is all in the seed. It is not clear if any of the grapes that are disease resistant in warm humid climates has high resveratrol. There are not enough published test results out there yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit links

Has anyone grew muscadines verity "Majesty" and will you tell us about your experience with it.

I have 3 Majesty vines. I have or have had about a dozen varieties of muscadines. I bought some Delicious muscadines of the same size at the same time. The Delicious has proved to be more cold resistant. In fact, most of the varieties are more cold hardy than the Majesties. I would point out that, being in Southeast Missouri, I'm pretty far north in the muscadine territory. My Majesties also have not produced near the crops as most of the other varieties. That is to be expected for a female vine. Big grapes, but not so many of them. As near as I can recall, they taste ok and have no other characteristics that are a problem. I'm not so disappointed that I'm pulling them up, but don't need any more. I planted them in 2012 and then in February of 2015 we had a cold spell that was worse than anything in decades, temps of 10 below zero. Most of my muscadines were killed back to knee high, ankle high, or down to the ground. Every one of them came back, including some that sent up new shoots from the root. Here is a picture of a Majesty.