Primocane Blackberry Varieties New Opportunities 11th Annual Virginia Berry Production and Marketing Conference John R. Clark Distinguished Professor of Horticulture
How Many Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry Plants Had Been Made/Marketed/Planted, 20 Years Ago? NONE
How Many Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry Plants Had Been Made/Marketed/Planted As Of Summer, 2018? (University of Arkansas Varieties) 10,000,000 (approx.) (Equivalent to about 5,000 acres.)
Biggest Contributor to the 10 Million Total? Prime-Ark 45 (2009 release) (about half.)
Prime-Jim and Prime-Jan 2004 Prime-Ark 45 2009 Prime-Ark Freedom 2013 Prime-Ark Traveler 2014 Plus Black Magic (APF-77) Plus Stark Black Gem (APF-205T)
And Added To This Driscoll Elvira (and a few others) Reuben (Hargreaves Plants, UK) Amara and Camila (Hortifrut) Baby Cakes, Black Cascade; both landscape varieties
So, Where There Once Were None Now, there is a pretty good mess of them!!
What Is Primocane Fruiting? Blackberries are a perennial plant with biennial canes Primocanes are the firstyear canes that usually are vegetative only Floricanes are the second-year canes and these flower, fruit and die A Quick Review.
What Is Primocane Fruiting? Primocane terminates in flowers Fruiting develops down the cane Remaining buds develop flowers the next year
A Brief History of Primocane- Fruiting Blackberry Development Arkansas Story
The Origin of The Primocane-Fruiting Trait Source for Blackberries in Arkansas In 1949, Mrs. Hillquist provided a wild, primocanefruiting blackberry selection to the NYSAES that her husband L.G. Hillquist had found near Ashland, Va. This plant was held there and designated as Hillquist ; tho no evidence it was ever formally named nor marketed It was noted in NY to have a rudimentary level of primocane fruiting
The Origin of Primocane-Fruiting Trait Sources for Blackberries Dr. Jim Moore obtained Hillquist when starting the Univ. of Arkansas blackberry breeding program in 1964 Used in the cross Brazos by Hillquist in 1967, and a selection was made from this population in 1970 and was designated as Ark. 593; did not primocane fruit In the early 1990s, Dr. Moore s last graduate student, Jose Lopez-Medina, undertook a formal study of the inheritance of this trait; used A-593 and other parents, his work yielded the result that the trait was recessive From the seedlings produced in Dr. JLM s study, fourteen primocane-fruiting selections were made in September, 1997
Primocane-Fruiting, The First Look September 27, 1997, Arkansas
Primocane-Fruiting, Enlightenment!! October 14, 2001, Oregon
I Believe We Have Something Here
First Varieties, 2004
Prime-Ark 45 2009 Prime-Ark Freedom 2013 Prime-Ark Traveler 2014 Plus Black Magic (APF-77) Plus Stark Black Gem (APF-205T)
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: We now can: Successes/Potential Produce blackberries from mid to late summer until winter Fill a major gap in the domestic blackberry fruit market This success depends a lot on environment.. and market
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: We now can: Successes/Potential Produce two crops on the same plant; summer and fall impacts.. Mow the canes down, no hand pruning if floricanes not retained
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: We now can: Successes/Potential Fruit blackberries in colder climates in theory No cane protection; but crown protection?
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: We now can: Successes/Potential Produce blackberries in areas of no or little chill Revise growing protocols for dormancy manipulations improve off-season quality
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: Challenges Environment/heat Above 90F really impacts primocane blackberries; Can: Inhibit flower buds Cause doubling/poor shape Kill flowers Reduce fruit size Reduce fruit quality Obviously, reduce yield! In a growth chamber, heat effects on male flower parts (above) Heat impacts causing multiple berries/odd shape (left)
Dr Courtney Weber in New York, with primocane blackberry fruit that will never ripen.. Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: Growing season length Northern US or other short-season climates Crop does not ripen Freezing temperatures devastating to blackberries Protection of plants required (to avoid fall freezes) Challenges
Quality Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: Primocane-fruiting varieties not up to floricane-fruiting options, at least in some locations Reversion Overall postharvest performance Flavor, at times Challenges
Primocane-Fruiting Blackberry: Challenges Other challenges (in breeding that is) Thornless Yield Quality Overall adaptation Management still to be fully worked out!
We Are Making Progress!! We were here! Featured here is Dr Alejandra Salgado, rock climber, fruit breeder/scientist, entrepreneur, Mondasol/FuturaFruit Genetics We are way ahead of 20 years ago!!!