Thompson Seedless
Raised from rooted cuttings, not true seed. The green seedless variety behind most Indian table-grape and raisin trade — spraying can't slip in monsoon.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Grapes
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine)
- Expected yield
- 250–300 q/ha at full bearing
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Susceptible to downy mildew in a wet spell
- Release
- Not an Indian-bred release. An imported Vitis vinifera grape (Sultana or Sultanina) of Asia Minor origin, long established in Maharashtra as the base stock from which farmers selected Tas-A-Ganesh (1970), Sonaka (1977) and Manik Chaman (about 1982).
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Thompson Seedless is the Indian and American name for the seedless grape known internationally as Sultana or Sultanina. It is Vitis vinifera stock that came from Asia Minor and spread across the Mediterranean. The American name honours William Thompson, an early California grower. It is pale green or yellow with oval berries and serves three uses: table grape, raisins and, less often, wine. In India it became the base variety of Maharashtra's table-grape industry. Progressive farmers have since selected natural bud-sport mutants straight off Thompson Seedless vines that are now major varieties: Tas-A-Ganesh (identified in 1970 by Vasant Rao Arve at Borgaon, Sangli district), Sonaka (1977, Nanasaheb Kale, Nanaj, Solapur district) and Manik Chaman (about 1982). Together, Thompson Seedless and these three mutants account for roughly 120,000 tonnes of India's raisin production each year.
Should you pick this variety?
Choose Thompson Seedless if you want the base variety of Indian table-grape and raisin trade: pale green or yellow, oval, seedless, and good for the table, for raisins and, less often, for wine. Yield is 250–300 q/ha at full bearing. The catch is downy mildew: as a Vitis vinifera grape it has no natural resistance, so a monsoon spray programme is standard. Choose Sonaka for larger, crunchy golden berries for the export market. Choose Manik Chaman if raisins are the main goal. Choose Flame Seedless for an early red grape and Sharad Seedless for a later black one.
Sowing & cultivation
Advantages & considerations
Why farmers may choose it
- Three uses in one vine: table grape, raisins and wine. It is also the anchor variety for India's raisin industry.
- A long-established base stock. Maharashtra farmers have selected three separate, commercially important mutants straight off it (Tas-A-Ganesh 1970, Sonaka 1977, Manik Chaman about 1982), a sign of how widely adapted the vine is.
Things to consider
- As a Vitis vinifera grape, Thompson Seedless has no natural resistance to downy mildew, a disease that came from North America. It is often used as the susceptible check variety in mildew research.
- Its mutants (Sonaka, Tas-A-Ganesh, Manik Chaman) share the same downy mildew weakness, so a spray programme timed to the monsoon is standard across the whole family, not only the parent.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Maharashtra
- Karnataka
A monsoon spray calendar for the whole Thompson family
Thompson Seedless and its mutants (Sonaka, Tas-A-Ganesh, Manik Chaman) share one weakness: downy mildew. So one spray calendar covers all of them.
Write the calendar on one page before the rains start. Mark the weeks when rain is most likely, the product you plan for each round, the date it was applied and who applied it.
Keep the log for the whole season. When a buyer asks about residues, or when you have a bad year, the log tells you what happened and what to change next time.
Can you keep your own planting material?
This crop is raised from cuttings, not from seed, so you can take your own planting material. Take cuttings only from healthy, well-grown plants that are true to the variety, and never from one that showed disease — a cutting carries its mother plant with it. Where a nursery or a government farm sells clean planting material, that is the safer start.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Grapes variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anab-e-Shahi | A seeded, amber heritage table grape for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana buyers who still ask for it | Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine) | 300–350 q/ha at full bearing | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana |
| Bangalore Blue | A fox-grape (Vitis labrusca) for juice, jam, jelly and wine, grown only in the Nandi Valley zone of Karnataka | Mid | High | Karnataka |
| Flame Seedless | An early, red, firm seedless table grape for the coloured fresh market, grown around Nashik | Early | High | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
| Manik Chaman | A sweet, elongated-berry Thompson Seedless mutant grown mainly for raisins in Maharashtra | ~140 days | Very high | Maharashtra |
| Sharad Seedless | A black, thick-skinned seedless grape that ripens later than Thompson, for the October–February market | Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine) | 200–250 q/ha at full bearing | Maharashtra |
| Sonaka | A golden, large-berry Thompson Seedless mutant for the fresh and export market, also used for raisins | ~140 days | Very high | Maharashtra |
| Thompson Seedlessthis page | The base green seedless grape for table and raisins in Maharashtra and Karnataka, for farmers who run a monsoon spray programme | Bearing from year 2–3 (rooted-cutting-raised vine) | 250–300 q/ha at full bearing | Maharashtra, Karnataka |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Grapes is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Grapes plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Grapes variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Grapes into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Grapes rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Grapes seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Is Thompson Seedless an Indian-bred variety?
No. It is an imported Vitis vinifera grape of Asia Minor origin, also called Sultana or Sultanina abroad, and it is the base stock of Maharashtra's table-grape industry. What is Indian is a set of farmer-selected mutants taken off Thompson Seedless vines: Tas-A-Ganesh (1970), Sonaka (1977) and Manik Chaman (about 1982), each identified by a named grower in a specific Maharashtra district.
Why do downy mildew sprays matter so much for Thompson Seedless?
Because it's a Vitis vinifera cultivar with no natural resistance to Plasmopara viticola, the downy-mildew pathogen — it evolved in the Mediterranean/Asia Minor without exposure to a fungus that's native to North America, so it has no built-in defence and is routinely used as the susceptible benchmark in disease research.
Thompson Seedless or Sonaka: which should I plant?
Thompson Seedless is the standard green grape for table and raisins. Sonaka is a mutant of it with larger, crunchy golden berries and a name in the export trade. Both need the same mildew spray programme. If you already sell Thompson at a fair price, add a few rows of Sonaka only after your exporter asks for it.
What is a bud-sport mutant and why does it matter to me?
Now and then one shoot on a vine changes by itself and gives a different fruit. Farmers noticed such shoots on Thompson Seedless and multiplied them as new varieties: Tas-A-Ganesh, Sonaka and Manik Chaman. For you it means three nearby choices with different berry shapes, but they share Thompson's mildew weakness.
Is Thompson Seedless the same as Sultana?
Yes. Sultana or Sultanina is the international name for the same seedless grape. When you buy cuttings or talk to an exporter, ask for the plant by both names. The US regulations treat the two as the same.
How should I time mildew sprays for Thompson Seedless?
Time the programme to the wet spells, especially the monsoon, and do not skip a round when rain is forecast. No spray schedule is published here, so follow your state horticulture department or the grape research station in your area, and keep a log of every spray.
How much will Thompson Seedless yield?
The card shows 250–300 q/ha at full bearing, and a rooted-cutting vine starts bearing from year 2–3. Treat the figure as a mature, well-sprayed vineyard. A mildew-hit year can land well below it, so keep a reserve in your budget.
Sourced from: Sultana (grape) — Wikipedia, From the vineyards of Nashik — Millennium Post, ICAR-IIHR released varieties. editorial policy.