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  • From: mauch1@aol.com
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] seedless grapes
  • Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 16:21:22 -0500

<<
Ok, so how do they make grapes seedless? A youngster I know asked and
I'm at a loss a to what the answer is.
>> 
 
Rondi
What I'm about to tell you combines some knowledge, some observation, and some
supposition.
 
<Sup>  I don't think that seedless grapes are triploid.  I believe the seedlessness
is a genetic defect in the seed development process of grapes.
 
<Kno & Obs> Seedless grape vines 'come that way'.  In general a grape variety is either
seedless or not (There is a 'Concord seedless'.  It is not directly related to Concord),
but there are varying degrees of seedlessness, some having a large, but soft seed
(Canadice), to almost non-existant remnants (Thompson seedless).
 
<Kno> To get more seedless varieties, they generally breed seedless grapes
to seeded grapes.  I did read a number of years ago, that they had discovered that
not all seedless grapes remanants seeds are sterile (i.e. I would assume something like
Thompson Seedless would be, but something that has a larger remnant might grow).
So this does open the possibility of 'seedlessXseedless' crosses.
 
<Kno & Sup> Grapes without fully developed seeds, often don't have large
berries.  Though there are some natural methods of getting the berries to
size up better (i.e. cane girdling), the grape you see in the stores have often
been sprayed with a hormone called gibberellic acid.
 
Here's some other web sites with some other information:
 
Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N 75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation



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