Chester Thornless blackberry variety
Very vigorous, thornless, large fruited, late ripening blackberry variety with long harvest season
Rubus subgenus Rubus 'Chester Thornless'
Originated from a cross of Thornfree x SIUS 47
Variety denomination - 'Chester Thornless', tested as SIUS 68-6-17
Chester Thornless is the parent for Illiny Hardy, Asterina
Plants are thornless
Bushes have semi-erect canes
Fruit weight is 5 g
Berries have a rounded shape
Fruiting habit - floricane fruiting (summer-bearing)
Flowering on floricanes starts in the second week of June
Ripening date (regular) - fourth week of July
Productivity is 14 kg per plant
Soluble solids - 9.6%
Cold hardiness is good
Heat tolerance is moderate
Current status - modern or widely used
Country of origin - United States
Agawam Amanda Anastasia Wyeberry Apache Arapaho Babycakes Bailey Big Daddy Black Butte Black Diamond Black Gem Black Jack Black Magic Black Pearl Black Satin Blakely Boysenberry Brazos Caddo Chesapeake Chester Thornless Cheyenne Chickasaw Chief Joseph Choctaw Clark Gold Columbia Giant Columbia Star Columbia Sunrise COX's miracle berry Danna Douglass Doyle's Thornless Eclipse Evergreen Thornless Galaxy Hall’s Beauty Heaven Can Wait Hedrick HJ-6 HJ-7 Hull Thornless Illiny Hardy Kelly Kiowa Kotata Loganberry Lucretia Marion Mary Carmen Metolius MM01 Natchez Navaho Nettleton Creamy White Newberry Nightfall Obsidian Onyx Osage Ouachita Ponca Prime-Ark 45 Prime-Ark Freedom Prime-Ark Horizon Prime-Ark Traveler Prime-Jan Prime-Jim Reuben Schultz Shawnee Siskiyou Smoothstem Sweetie Pie Thornfree Triple Crown Twilight Von Waldo Wild Treasure Willamette Thornless Marion
Canes are semi-erect after the first year recumbent growth. Canes length typically achieves 3-4 m and needs trellis support. Harvest period continues from the end of July to the end of September. Yields of Chester Thornless vary with production area, up to 31 kg/plant from healthy plant. Taste and flavor are depend on local growing conditions and weather. In different regions with similar cultivation methods taste and flavor vary sufficiently. Mean mass of berry averages 5 g, seeds are relatively small. Berries have very intense black color and are firm. Winter hardiness is up to minus 18.
| Cultivar | Yield, kg/plant | Harvest date | Berry weight, g | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 1976 | First | Last | ||
| Chester Thornless | 27.0 | 31.1 | 28/7 | 23/9 | 6.7 |
| Dirksen Thornless | 4.3 | 9.9 | 18/7 | 15/8 | 6.0 |
| Thornfree | 9.2 | 18 | 18/7 | 26/8 | 5.0 |
| Black Satin | 17.6 | 6.5 | 21/7 | 08/9 | 6.6 |
| Smoothstem | 8.9 | 11.5 | 06/8 | 09/9 | 5.0 |
Is blackberry Chester Thornless sweet?
What diseases is blackberry Chester Thornless resistant to?
What diseases is blackberry variety Chester Thornless vulnerable to?
