2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Kentucky’s climate is well-suited for blackberry production. Two cane types exist within brambles: primocanes (or first-year canes), which are usually vegetative, but in primocane-fruiting cultivars will flower and fruit from late summer until frost, depending on temperature, plant health, and the location in which they are grown; and floricanes, which are the same canes, flowering and producing fruit the next growing season in mid summer. A primocane-bearing blackberry trial was planted at the Kentucky State University Research and Demonstration Farm. The planting contained the selections ‘Prime-Ark® Traveler’, ‘Stark® Black Gem®’, and APF-268, which are all primocane fruiting selections from the University of Arkansas. The objective of this study was to determine if ‘Stark® Black Gem®’ (APF-205T) and the advanced selection APF-268 is superior to ‘Prime-Ark® Traveler’ in terms of yield and fruit quality under Kentucky growing conditions. In 2017, no significant differences were found among the three selections in berry size for the floricane crop. APF-268 had significantly greater yield than the other two selections; ‘Prime-Ark® Traveler’ showed a trend to have a higher yield than ‘Stark® Black Gem®. Primocane fruit size varied significantly; ‘Stark® Black Gem®’ and APF-268 had a larger fruit size than ‘Prime-Ark® Traveler. APF-268 had significantly higher primocane yield whereas ‘Prime-Ark® Traveler had the lowest yield and ‘Stark® Black Gem®’ was between the two. Year-to-year yield characteristics will need to be further evaluated; however, the first-year data suggests that ‘Stark® Black Gem®’ has large fruit and yields well in Kentucky, and should be considered by growers interested in producing primocane fruiting blackberries for markets with little shipping.