Merton Thornless (Merton sin espinas)
Fecha: 2021-08-18, actualizado: 2023-03-09
Variedad comercial de arrastre sin espinas, con frutos uniformes y de excelente aroma
Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson 'Merton Thornless'
Denominación de la variedad 'Merton Thornless'
Las plantas son sin espinas
Los arbustos tienen rastrero tallos
El peso del fruto es 4 gramo
Las bayas tienen un redondeado forma
Hábito de fructificación fructificación florífera (de verano)
La floración en los floricanes comienza en el segunda semana del mes de Junio
Fecha de maduración (regular) - segunda semana del mes de Agosto
La productividad es 3 kg por planta
La rusticidad al frío es excelente
País de origen Reino Unido
Situación actual - obsoleto o poco utilizado
Merton Thornless se sigue cultivando comercialmente en Irán y alrededor de la región del Mar Caspio, ya que es muy adaptable, a pesar de ser una variedad de maduración media o tardía en los climas occidentales más fríos. Estas regiones más cálidas apenas reciben entre 200 y 600 horas de frío y los inviernos suelen ser muy cálidos. Merton Thornless es muy popular en el Reino Unido, a pesar de que esta variedad está obsoleta, también se utiliza principalmente por su fuente de ausencia de espinas en la cría de moras.
Reseñas de la variedad Merton Thornless (Merton sin espinas)
Merton Thornless blackberry plant appears to be the only blackberry of the thornless types to be totally resistant to wilt and root rot as well as other pathogens. Some info on Navaho Summerlong is that it is highly susceptible to root rot like its parent plant Loch Ness from which it's a hybrid cross as the other Navahos. BigandEarly has very high resistance to disease and viruses, but can like all blackberries die when waterlogged for long periods of time, unlike Merton which can regrow new canes from the crown and recover in time.
It's a delightful plant to grow, has a wonderful taste when ripe of the wild blackberry and can fruit anytime from early August onwards in a good summer giving a season of 6 weeks. Yields are moderate- about 3kg on average. It's okay to grow in a patio container and it gives a nice display of white flowers June.
Also it is very forgiving of any soil type and immensely disease resistant with good winter hardiness of minus 20 Celsius. Recommended for those with little space as the canes are short and stout and have moderate vigor. Pests tend leave it alone too! Ideal for both the novice gardener or expert alike.
It will never suffer from frost as it flowers June onwards and has a relatively compact season of usually Mid Aug to end of Sept. I've picked crops of over 10 pounds in some years. It needs a good fertilizer to produce new canes, but even if it produces only one it will still load up with juicy fruit which are about as close to the wild taste as you will ever get.
Merton is only used for breeding new cultivars because of its stable thornless trait and its fruit went out of favour for U.S markets as they are quite soft so didnt ship too well. A true heritage plant from the famous John Innes Institute.
It is a superb cultivar for the home garden and unaffected by pests or disease still makes it a great choice for planting.