(WaynesvilleDailyGuide) - The grapes are following suit with all of the other fruit crops at the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station – they are ripening early this year. The grapes are about two weeks ahead of schedule at this point. The sign that grape ripening has begun is veraison. Veraison is the stage when the grape berries soften and the colored grapes start to change from green to red or purple and the “white” grapes change from an opaque green to a more translucent green or golden color. Mars purple/blue seedless table grape has begun veraison this last week of June. Mars is a cultivar release from the University of Arkansas breeding program. It is similar to Concord except that it ripens earlier and is seedless. It is often ready to pick in early August in southern Missouri at Mountain Grove. It is resistant to disease and to bird depredation. In southern Missouri,