FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Fun Trivia
Home: Questions and Answers Forum
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


How do they grow seedless grapes without seeds?

Question #58714. Asked by barker111.
Last updated Sep 30 2021.

avatar
Baloo55th
Answer has 1 vote
Baloo55th
21 year member
4545 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
Careful selection just as with any other pre-GM (genetically modified) advance in agriculture. There's some fruits that produce more seeds than others, and some less. You select the ones that produce more when breeding grain crops, but with grapes and oranges (and bananas) they selected the ones with less and less - propagating vegetatively from branches with least seeds until at last none. Then just keep taking the cuttings!

Dec 22 2003, 4:06 PM
lothruin
Answer has 4 votes
lothruin
24 year member
392 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
Nearly all grapevines in production today produce seedless grapes.
It turns out that most fruits today do not come from seeds. They come from cuttings instead. This is true of grapes, blueberries, apples, cherries, etc. (pretty much all fruits except citrus, although scientists are working on that, too). A piece of a vine or branch is cut off, dipped in rooting hormone and then placed in moist dirt so that roots and leaves form. Because they come from cuttings, new grapevines are essentially clones of the vine they were cut from.

Seedless grapes actually do contain seeds at some point. But a genetic error prevents the seeds from forming hard outer coats like normal seeds do.

link http://www.howstuffworks.com/question349.htm

Response last updated by Terry on Sep 19 2016.
Dec 22 2003, 9:43 PM
avatar
satguru
Answer has 2 votes
satguru
Moderator
21 year member
1246 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.
Basically, they are cloned using asexual reproduction, usually by taking cuttings. Rather than try and explain further, it's all here.
link https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/how-are-seedless-grapes-grown-parthenocarpy.html

Response last updated by CmdrK on Sep 30 2021.
Jul 21 2004, 5:13 PM
Flynn_17
Answer has 3 votes
Flynn_17
22 year member
604 replies

Answer has 3 votes.
Here are two sites which should help you.

Some of these grapes, including B74-99, were produced through conventional breeding, using pollen from one parent grapevine to fertilize the flowers of another. Others were produced by embryo rescue, a sophisticated technique in which the Fresno team is regarded as the world leader.

In grape embryo rescue, scientists excise tiny developing seeds of a promising grape from the fruit, then nurture the seeds in petri dishes. Embryo rescue has sped development of new seedless grapes because it enables scientists to rescue embryos that, in nature, would probably not survive.
link http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/1998/980917.htm


link https://www.legistorm.com/stormfeed/view_rss/267706/organization/87412/title/new-summer-seedless-black-grape-developed.html#

Response last updated by CmdrK on Sep 30 2021.
Apr 07 2005, 10:56 AM
robboy
Answer has 1 vote
robboy
20 year member
941 replies

Answer has 1 vote.
You don't. Seedless grapes are grown from rootstock of other seedless grapes, either by grafting or simply planting cuttings from them. The initial 'seedless' variety (they all have minute traces of seeds) is grown by cross pollinating a seedless variety with a seeded one. Where the original came from I haven't a clue, but probably from some enterprising vintner who decided they'd make great snacks as well as wine.

Apr 07 2005, 11:08 AM
MrsAce
Answer has 8 votes
Currently Best Answer
MrsAce
20 year member
513 replies

Answer has 8 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
Seedless grapes are a special bunch.
All plants -- including grapes -- grow from seeds. But some people prefer to munch on sweet, juicy grapes without biting on seeds too. So, grape breeders (those are people who develop different kinds of grapes) use their plant smarts to grow the seedless varieties.

Grape breeders create new seedless plants by placing the pollen of a seedless grape onto the flowers of a grape variety that has seeds. They then cut open and inspect the fruit of every single plant that grows from this match. The breeders are looking for seeds -- some plants will have seeds in their fruit and others won't.

When they find a plant that has no seeds, or maybe just has very tiny traces of seeds that you wouldn't be able to taste, the grape breeders use it to make more seedless plants. One way is to cut off small pieces of the seedless plant's vine and place it in special growing conditions in a greenhouse. Eventually, the pieces of vine will grow roots and become new, individual plants. This technique is called propagation.

Or, the breeders can graft, or attach, a piece of the seedless grape variety onto a healthy vine base, called a rootstock. Think of it like this: When someone cuts their hand, a doctor sews the cut together, and the two pieces heal as one. The grafted vines grow together the same way. And, the grape variety attached to the rootstock keeps producing delicious seedless grapes.

link https://dljproduce.com/seedless-grapes-vs-seeded-grapes/

Response last updated by CmdrK on Sep 30 2021.
Aug 09 2005, 4:39 AM
avatar
Baloo55th
Answer has 1 vote
Baloo55th
21 year member
4545 replies avatar

Answer has 1 vote.
Two answers: 1. They don't because the plants are grown from cuttings off other seedless ones - this is the normal way of doing it. 2. They are hybrids of two other varieties that when crossed give a seedless offspring. Normally, in the wild, seedless varieties don't last very long - hands up who can tell me why? And in the wild, cuttings are rarely found. Can be, after a storm and a twig landing the right way up, etc, but very, very rare. The hybrid seedless variety can be reproduced either by keeping on crossing the parent lines, or by cuttings. Cuttings are much cheaper to produce - and more certain - so crossing is only done to maintain the strength of the line. This is where the problem comes with bananas - the seedless banana is only produced by cuttings and they haven't got the parent line any more for some reason.

Apr 03 2006, 4:29 AM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion

Related FunTrivia Quizzes

play quiz "Seeds of Discontent"
('Will & Grace' - Season 2)
play quiz Seeds of Yesterday
(Dollanganger Series)
play quiz The Marvellous Lightning Seeds
(L)

Return to FunTrivia
"Ask FunTrivia" strives to offer the best answers possible to trivia questions. We ask our submitters to thoroughly research questions and provide sources where possible. Feel free to post corrections or additions. This is server B184.