North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Muscadines are ripe when they fall off.  In fact, that's the usual way to harvest them.  Spread a tarp under the vine and shake it.  The berries that don't fall aren't ripe.  If you pick them in clusters like regular grapes, you'll get unripe ones.  Many varieties have a dry scar (point of attachment) so they won't juice when they fall.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
For all other things grape,   http://www.vitisearch.com
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Sep 8, 2008, at 3:08 PM, Geoffrey Stone wrote:

This is the 1st year that my "Jumbo" muscadines are producing. My question is: "how do I know when they are ripe?"
I was recently told that they are ripe when the seeds are black. However, some of them are dropping off the vine early (apparently) as the seeds are still green. The berries are green and then start getting dark red with the green at the stem turning last. If I pick them early will they ripen on the shelf?
    Help?
Geoffrey Stone - Black Mountain, NC
PS: I have a second variety called "Bountiful" for pollination. These grapes are still very green and smaller in size at this point._______________________________________________
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