Blackberry varieties /

Chesapeake blackberry variety

Rating [ 0 ]

Very vigorous thorny erect-growing blackberry variety with giant berries

Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson 'Chesapeake'

Originated from a cross of Shawnee x Rubus cuneifolius (wild blackberry)

Variety denomination - 'Chesapeake', tested as NSKNA-1

Plants are thorny

Bushes have erect canes

Fruit weight is 15 g

Berries have a conical shape

Fruiting habit - floricane fruiting (summer-bearing)

Flowering on floricanes starts in the second week of May

Ripening date (regular) - third week of June

Cold hardiness is moderate

Heat tolerance is low

Patent US 2003/0024021 P1 dated January 28, 2003

Current status - obsolete or rarely used

Recommended replacement - Osage

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

Chesapeake blackberry, which has a Shawnee cultivar as parent, may be distinguished from othe large-fruited thorny varieties, such as Kiowa, by the recurvature of its spines and flavor of its fruit. It may be distinguished from Black Butte by the type of spines and its erectness, compared to the semi-erect habit of the large fruited Black Butte. The presence of thorns and the size of the fruit distinguish Chesapeake from popular thornles cultivars such as Arapaho, Navaho, Hull Thornless, Triple Crown and Chester Thornless. Chesapeake blackberry cultivar was bred by University of Maryland.
Plants are very erect, growing to 4 m or taller when mature. Chesapeake produces a moderate number of root and crown-stems. During the growing season, primocanes are light green colored with a light red blush in full sun, fluted or moderately grooved, usually branched, very erect with arching branches and very vigorous. Floricane color is brown. Canes can flower from all live buds in April to May depending on region, and fruit from mid June to late July.
Cheasapeake produces fruit which is much larger and more flavorful than the Black Butte and Kiowa. Fruit is decidedly thick elongate (commonly up to 4 cm in length and 2 cm in width), very large (15-22 g primary fruit) and somewhat asymmetrical due to variation in drupelet placement. The fruit is very juicy when crushed and the drupelets are relatively large. Seed size is large, averaging 4.6 mg per seed fresh weight. Fruit flavor is sweet, even when the fruit is unripe.
The plant is field resistant to many of the common pests and diseases, for example mildew and Phytophthora fragarae, root rot and fruit rot.
Cheasapeake is moderately cold hardy, it is not recommended for areas where the minimum winter temperature is less than minus 18 С.