What are your favorite muscadine varieties? I was thinking about planting some since our wild muscadines aren’t very dependable. I will be using them mostly for fresh eating.

Ison is my favorite. It is an early black with wild flavor. I tried the new early black Lane this year, great wild flavor but not a slip skin though the skin is tender enough to eat.
I like Early Fry and Pam for bronzes.

Are there any Muscadines that will grow well in zone 6a?

Keith

From Ison's website.

https://www.isons.com/muscadines/

Muscadines will grow best in zones 6-10. In colder climates, especially in zone 6, we recommend banking dirt up around the trunk about 10 inches during the winter.

They grow a heck of a bunch of them in south central Washington cold snowy winters -10, mild springs, hot summers 95 to 102 most days cooling to 70ish at night, mild falls early frost first of October. Mostly low humidity irrigated desert,Welches has a plant there. It is about as far north as Ohio I think without looking at a map.

I would imagine the banking is in case of loss of the vine the root will survive.

I was actually trying to decide between Lane and Ison as one of my self fertile choices. So you like Ison better?

Yes, though the taste is very similar. I much prefer Ison as the skin slips. Lane is earlier as it replaced Ison as the earliest black in commercial vineyards here. Hall is the newest early bronze (actually yellow) but I haven't tried it yet. Next early bronze would be early fry.

Warrior I am planning on six different varieties: Ison and Late Fry as my self fertile; Black Beauty, Supreme, Early Fry and Summit as my females. I am leaning toward varieties that are somewhat cold hardy. I’m on the border between zone 7 and 8, probably similar to the very north part of Georgia. Do you think I will have a problem with It being too cold for Ison or any of the others I have listed? What is your experience with any of these other varieties?