Wild Treasure blackberry variety

Wild Treasure (evaluated as ORUS 1843-3) is a trailing blackberry cultivar from the Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) breeding program in Corvallis, United States. Wild Treasure is thornless and has high-quality fruit that are very small and suitable for mechanical harvest. The fruit is of particular value for market niches where small fruit size is perceived as superior. Such markets include bakery products that use whole berries and in frozen polybag fruit blends in which large-fruited blackberries are out of proportion to the other components of the mix. Wild Treasure blackberry is named to recognize its pedigree because it was selected from a cross between a thornless cultivar and a selection of the western dewberry. Wild Treasure plants are thornless and as vigorous as Marion, but there few thorns on the new canes until they are ~ 0.5 m long. Canes of Wild Treasure cultivar have fruiting laterals that are short, like Black Diamond, and similar in strength to those of Marion and Black Diamond. The canes are as resistant to cane and leaf spot as are Marion canes. The harvest season for Wild Treasure begins and ends slightly before Marion but peaks at the same time. Wild Treasure has consistently produced very small fruit with excellent flavor. Fruit averaged 2 g. Wild Treasure blackberry is not likely to be well suited to fresh market because it is not sufficiently firm for handling and shipping significant distances. This cultivar is winter hardy up to minus 13 C.