Himrod

produced from a cross between Ontario and Thompson Seedless, is the most successful table grape released from the Cornell University grape breeding program (1952). It produces large bunches of white seedless grapes with excellent, honeylike flavor and melting, juicy texture. The clusters are loosely filled, but cane girdling, gibberellic acid treatments, or thinning may be used to increase cluster compactness and improve berry size (Zabadal, 1992). The brittle rachis may break when handled, and the berries may shell in storage. The rachis is also subject to bunch stem necrosis, a poorly understood disorder that causes a shriveling of the cluster stem, often just before harvest. Despite these cultural defects, Himrod is currently the most commercially important of the seedless grapes grown in New York.