Blackberry varieties /

Ouachita blackberry variety

Rating [ 4.5 ]

High fruit quality, consistent high yields, good fruit size and excellent postharvest fruit-handling potential

Rubus subgenus Rubus Watson 'Ouachita'

Originated from a cross of Navaho x A-1506

Variety denomination - 'Ouachita', tested as A-1905

Ouachita is the parent for Twilight

Plants are thornless

Bushes have erect canes

Fruit weight is 6 g

Berries have a rounded shape

Fruiting habit - floricane fruiting (summer-bearing)

Flowering on floricanes starts in the first week of May

Ripening date (regular) - third week of June

Productivity is 3 kg per plant

Soluble solids - 9.9%

Acidity - 0.97%

Cold hardiness is moderate

Heat tolerance is moderate

Patent US PP17,162 P3 dated October 21, 2006

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

Ouachita is the eleventh release in a series of erect-growing productive floricane-fruiting thornless blackberry varieties bred by the University of Arkansas. Ouachita has Navaho cultivar in pedigree. Plant was selected in 1993.
Blackberry variety Ouachita produces yield comparable to or higher than Apache or Navaho cultivars. Average berry weight is about 6 g. Average yield is about 3 kg from each healthy plant. Fruit of Ouachita are blocky and conical and very attractive with an exceptional glossy, black finish. Fruit firmness is slightly less than that of Navaho. Flavor is very good. Ouachita begin bloom the same date or nearly as Navaho and Apache blackberry - at the end of April of beginning of May. First harvest date is the middle of June. Harvest season continues up to the end of July. Canes of blackberry variety Ouachita are fully thornless and very erect. Vigor rating is higher than Navaho blackberry.
Health rating of Ouachita variety is excellent, this variety has good resistance to winter frost, pests and diseases. Fresh is main use but can be processed for jellies, jams, juice, wine.

Table 1. Yield and average berry weight at two locations in Arkansas (plots were established in 1999)
Cultivar	Yield, kg/ha		Fruit weight, g
Cultivar	2001	2002	2001	2002
Clarksville
Ouachita	6811	6659	6.4	4.7
Apache	7908	12045	8.8	7.9
Arapaho	3527	3171	5.3	4.2
Hope
Ouachita	11184	10931	5.5	5.0
Apache	5336	6178	8.9	7.0
Arapaho	7365	9516	4.6	4.0

Table 2. Yield and average berry weight at three locations in Arkansas (plots were established in 1996)
Cultivar	Yield, kg/ha		Fruit weight, g
Cultivar	2001	2002	2001	2002
Clarksville
Ouachita	10086	9568	6.7	5.8
Apache	7683	9560	9.5	7.7
Arapaho	4974	4981	5.2	5.0
Navaho	4764	10060	4.6	4.6
Hope
Ouachita	16994	9866	6.0	5.1
Apache	14533	5588	8.4	6.7
Arapaho	9703	5134	5.0	4.2
Navaho	11115	3071	4.9	3.6
Fayetteville
Ouachita	8588	-	4.5	-
Apache	8349	-	7.4	-
Arapaho	4996	-	3.5	-
Navaho	4785	-	3.1

Table 3. Сomparison table of Navaho, Arapaho, Apache and Ouachita blackberries at the University of Arkansas Fruit Substation, Clarksville
Main features	Variety
Main features	Apache	Arapaho	Ouachita	Navaho
Flowering date (1997 - 1998 years)
10% bloom	April 29	April 28	April 29	May 1
50% bloom	May 5	May 4	May 7	May 7
Flowering date (2000 - 2002 years)
10% bloom	April 26	April 25	April 26	-
50% bloom	April 30	May 2	May 2	-
Harvest date (1997 - 1998 years)
First	June 21	June 6	June 12	June 19
Peak	June 30	June 11	June 19	July 1
Last	july 26	July 7	July 20	July 27
Harvest date (2000 - 2002 years)
First	June 19	June 5	June 13	-
Peak	June 29	June 16	June 24	-
Last	July 25	July 2	July 16	-
Fruit (rating scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the best)
Firmness	8.0	8.1	8.1	8.6
Flavor	8.3	7.8	8.4	8.5
Fresh seed, mg	12.5	8.4	11.4	10.6
Dry seed, mg	4.8	3.3	4.5	4.2
Soluble solids, %	11.1	8.2	9.9	11.9
Plant (rating scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is the best)
Vigor	9.1	7.3	8.4	7.4
Health	9.4	7.8	8.5	8.9

Is blackberry Ouachita sweet?

Ouachita blackberries have a balanced sour-sweet flavor

How to cultivate blackberry Ouachita?

Growing recommendations are typical of other Arkansas upright cultivars:
1. Include annual preemergence and postemergence herbicide applications;
2. Include annual spring nitrogen fertilization (about 56 kg/ha) using ammonium nitrate NH4NO3;
3. Summer tipping of primocanes at 1.1 m;
4. Sprinkler irrigation apply as needed;
5. Use dormant pruning;
6. A single application of liquid lime sulfur (94 L/ha) each spring at budbreak for control of anthracnose;
7. A single application of liquid ferrous sulphate each fall after the plants have gone into chill period;
8. Plant spacing at least 0.6 m.