A Comparison of Nine Primocane Fruiting Raspberry Cultivars for Suitability to a High-Elevation, Arid Climate

ABSTRACT

A replicated trial, planted in 2011, compared nine primocane-fruiting raspberry cultivars for suitability to commercial production in the U.S. Intermountain West. Factors evaluated included annual yield, fruit size, fruiting season, consumer preference, leaf chlorophyll content, and cane infestation by raspberry horntail, a common insect pest of raspberries in northern Utah. ‘Joan J’ was the highest yielding cultivar, averaging 3.32 kg per row meter, followed by ‘Polana’, ‘Autumn Bliss’, and ‘Dinkum’ with 2.53, 2.01, and 1.34 kg·m⁻¹, respectively. ‘Autumn Bliss’ and ‘Joan J’ were the earliest to fruit with a harvest midpoint 4 and 2 days before ‘Polana’, respectively. Leaf chlorophyll concentration (CCl) was highest in ‘Joan J’ and ‘Autumn Treasure’, averaging 30.9 and 27.0 CCl, respectively. All cultivars exhibited similar susceptibility to raspberry horntail, with differences in infestation rates related to the location in the field. A survey of farmers’ market customers found the highest consumer preference for ‘Autumn Bliss’, ‘Dinkum’, and ‘Vintage’. Only the earliest cultivars gave commercially viable yields for the high elevation valleys of the Intermountain West region of the U.S.

KEYWORDS:

• Rubus
• fruiting season
• raspberry horntail
• alkaline soil tolerance

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance of Casandra Collard, Harlie Hutchinson, and Elizabeth Winters.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; and by the Utah Agriculture Experiment Station, Utah State University, and approved as journal paper UAES #9389.