Courtesy University of ArkansasFruit breeder John Clark checks out Prime-Ark Freedom, a new thornless blackberry he helpd develop.The University of Arkansas has released Prime-Ark Freedom, reported to be the world's first thornless primocane-fruiting blackberry.
It is the four release in the university's Prime-Ark line of blackberries, which flower and fruit on each season's new branches, called primocanes, according to a news release.
Most blackberries fruit on 2-year-old wood.
Primocanes provide growers with potentially two cropping seasons.
The university's line was developed by breeder John Clark.
The new release has very large berries with good flavor. It does not hold up well during storage and shipping, based on initial post-harvest evaluations. But it would do well for local commercial markets.
Freedom follows the release of Prime-Jan and Prime-Jim n 2004 and Prime-Ark 45 in 2009. All of those are thorny.
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