Swenson Red would be a good candidate.

My grapes are all very young, but so far both Mars and Jupiter have produced small initial crops without any spray. I'm not sure how long that will last, but it is a good start.

Even if you decide to not spray ever, bagging grapes is an option. I had another unknown seeded variety which consistently got black rot. If I bagged early enough, I could protect individual clusters with zip-locks. I've heard that others have good experiences with waxed paper bags.

Thank you can you tell me more about " Bagging"

I planted a Van Buren last year and it surprisingly produced two clusters. I didn't spray them and they were fine. Having said that, I plan to spray them this year. Van Buren is similar to Worden, which is supposed to be a more disease resistant version of Concord.

Steuben is another good disease resistant grape.

Scott

Bagging just means putting a bag on the small bunches of grapes early in the season. The bags help keep both diseases and animals (especially birds) off the grapes. There is a lot of info out there, as people have been bagging grapes for a while. Here is an interesting one, where they tie open-bottomed paper bags around the grapes. If I paid better attention in spanish class, I would understand the video. As it is, all I got was that he said "very important" several times...Another one is a story about Lee Reich growing grapes in bakery bags.

I checked into a couple of the grapes mentioned in this thread and wanted to mention that they (Swenson Red, Van Buren, and Steuben) are seeded. The only way I'm OK with growing a seeded grape (for fresh eating) is if the are the size of a small plum (which I have seen). That way you can bite the top 1/3 off (small bite), take out the seeds, then eat the rest (big bite). I've made a bit of an exception to that for muscadines, due to their interesting flavor. But, they seem to be big enough to make it worth it.

One way I've looked for disease resistant grapes is to go to DoubleA Vinyards and check out the "Disease Susceptibility" at the bottom of each grape's description. "Slightly sensitive" is good (they don't call anything resistant), with "moderately" and "highly" sensitive being bad. I've put more emphasis on Black Rot, as I've already seen it in my yard on the vines which were growing there when I moved in.

Bob, if you want a grape you might not need to spray then you are stuck with seeded.

Scott

Scott, My current impression is that bagging can produce grapes without spraying, as long as the foliage of the vine isn't particularly susceptible to issues. It is a bit of work, but does provide benefits that spraying doesn't (bird protection). That said, even my un-bagged grapes this past year were problem-free on Mars and Jupiter, which is nice while it lasts.

Thank you both Burpee and Raintree have no shipping to NY on Jupiter. Does that mean you can't plant in NY or just can't mail, have to buy locale ?

I think Jupiter should be OK for you. DoubleA, Starks, and Raintree all list it as zone 5.

I see it available at Raintree, here. If you are having trouble getting it off "West shipping", just click the "change" link on the right hand side, under the price while looking at the cart. It took a second for me to see that when I ordered from them earlier this winter.

Bob, I also thought grapes were easy to grow no-spray. Then about three years in downy mildew showed up and things got hard. Then two more years later black rot showed up and things got really hard. You may get lucky and have a good stretch before either of these show up, but statistically the odds are not good. The advantage of disease-resistant grapes is they are much more resistant to these two diseases in particular.

Scott

Scott, Black rot is already here, as it was/is endemic on the pre-existing vines (unknown seeded variety), which are about 10 feet away from Jupiter, growing on a fence. Maybe open pruning and near dawn to dusk sun can help stave off issues for a while. They weren't in such a prime spot until I convinced my wife we should pay to have 2 huge trees removed. I had to also talk to the neighbors, as they trees were actually in their yard... Then, overnight, it became one of the best spots in the yard and we can get roof solar.

Have you tried bagging grapes? Two of the 3 times I've bagged the unknown seedy ones (which normally rot), I've been able to get pristine grapes out of the bags. In the 3rd year, I got the timing wrong a lost half of it to rot.

I am trying to get the most disease resistant seedless grapes (is that an oxymoron?) I can. Most of the ones I've planted are from the University of Arkansas, including the 4 new ones that many on the forums are testing.

I just had my first grapes in 2014 but I bagged them with brown paper lunch bags and stapled them shut. It's time consuming but it works. The rest of the other grapes all rotted but my climate is pretty humid and last year was especially damp. After doing some research, I'm going to use a spray routine to see if I have better results. The 'Mars' variety seemed to be more resistant to black rot and mildew than my Concord Seedless.

Black rot is the nemesis of organic grape growers. Trust me I know I formerly was a no spray grape grower. Lightly spraying pre-bloom and post-bloom can be effective.

The birds got my meager grape harvest the past couple years. I had considered bagging them, but had assumed that would make black rot worse. I appreciate hearing that the bags actually help prevent it. Will try the paper bags this coming year. Northwoodswis

I have a canadice red seedless type that is about 8 years old. Never sprayed it. No damage as far as I can tell. Only problem is that they are not the best tasting grapes I ever tried. But still they are good and I don't spray.

Hey Bob, I missed your reply above. I did some grape bagging but not as the only disease control method. The problem I had with black rot and downy when they were bad is my grapes would completely defoliate and so it didn't really matter what I did to the fruits. This is when I was growing vinifera grapes which are very disease-prone and also helped multiply spores for my other plants.

EJP, I have had disease on my Canadice, but you are in a less disease-ridden climate. I agree its not the greatest-tasting but its at least edible and is great for jam etc.

Scott

Hi Bob. My Mars seedless grape is about five years old and I
have been getting mixed results with black rot. A nearby tree has been removed
and I hope this helps. Are you doing anything special with the zip-lock bags
such as making vent holes etc.? What size bag are you using? Thanks for your
help. Bill