Merton Thornless
Data: 2021-08-18, atualizado: 2023-03-09
Variedade comercial sem espinhos de amora preta com frutas uniformizadas e excelente aroma
Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson 'Merton Thornless'
Denominação da variedade 'Merton Thornless'
As plantas são sem espinhas
Os arbustos têm rastejando bengalas
O peso da fruta é 4 g
As bagas têm um arredondado forma
O hábito de frutificar frutas floricaneiras (de verão)
A floração em floricanes começa no segunda semana de junho
Data de maturação (normal) - segunda semana de agosto
A produtividade é 3 kg por planta
A resistência ao frio é excelente
É originário de Reino Unido
Situação atual - obsoleto ou raramente utilizado
Merton Thornless ainda é cultivada comercialmente no Irã e ao redor da região do Mar Cáspio por ser altamente adaptável, apesar de ser uma variedade média a tardia em climas ocidentais mais frios. Estas regiões mais quentes mal chegam a 200 a 600 horas de frio, onde os invernos são normalmente muito quentes. Merton Thornless é muito popular no Reino Unido, embora esta variedade seja obsoleta, também usada principalmente por sua fonte de desespinhos na criação de amora silvestre.
Guias de Cultivo Úteis:
Reviews of the variety Merton Thornless
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.