Cuttings are now available to growers and breeders.
The Fresno breeding program is best known for developing Flame Seedless, America's most popular red seedless grape. The new varieties have undergone 5 to 18 years of testing in California's San Joaquin Valley. Melissa, a new white seedless grape, yields large, sweet berries. But unlike Thompson Seedless, Melissa vines don't need to be sprayed with a natural growth regulator to make the plant form big berries. This is a sophisticated lab procedure he used to produce Melissa and other recent grape varieties.