Released from Arkansas
Breeding Program
Fruit is reddish-blue at early maturity and becomes fully blue when completely ripe. Berries are oval to slightly oblong in shape and berry weight averages 5.5 grams, which is larger than Venus, Mars and Reliance. The fruit are non-slipskin and semi-crisp in texture. Occasionally small soft seed traces are found, but these are usually not considered noticeable.
Jupiter has a mild muscat flavor which has been consistently rated only slightly below that of Reliance. Soluble solids have averaged 19.8% in Arkansas. Skin cracking has not been observed on Jupiter in Arkansas and only minor cracking has been observed in Indiana in seasons where cracking has been severe on susceptible varieties.
Clusters are conical and may have a shoulder and size that has been similar to Venus, but smaller than Reliance. Yields have been equal to or exceeded those of Venus and Mars. Indiana observations suggest that overcropping can occur if cluster thinning is not done.
It is thought that the aromatic muscat volatiles and early ripening make Jupiter more attractive to feeding by the green June beetle and other mammalian predators.
This variety has moderate resistance to black rot, powdery mildew and anthracnose. Slight infections of powdery mildew have been observed in Arkansas under a commercial spray program.
Jupiter is considered to be moderately hardy in Indiana. It is less hardy than Reliance and Mars and more hardy than Einset Seedless, Canadice, Himrod, Marquis, Remaily seedless, Saturn, Vanessa Seedless, and Venus.
Neptune ripens midseason, has a yellow-green skin color and the berries are slightly ovate in shape. Berries average 2.5 grams and are slightly larger than berries of Reliance and smaller than those of Venus. This is a non-slipskin variety and soft seed traces are rarely found. The flavor is fruity, pleasant and not foxy. Fruit cracking has not been observed in Arkansas. Cluster weights have been larger than Reliance and Venus.
Neptune vines do not exhibit high vigor and may be planted closer together that other seedless varieties. This variety shows moderate resistance to black rot and anthracnose. It appears to be moderately susceptible to powdery and downy mildew, but these diseases have not presented a problem with a good spray program.
Arkansas tests indicate that the overall hardiness of Neptune is similar to that of Venus. This variety has not been tested in Indiana. We suspect that hardiness could be a problem with this variety at least in the central and eastern parts of the state where Venus has not done well.
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