Blackberry plant named ‘HJ-7’

Abstract

Description and specifications of a new and distinct blackberry which originates from seed produced by a hand pollinated cross of two, non-patented varieties; ‘Obsidian’ as the female and ‘Eaton’ as the male. This new, trailing cultivar can be distinguished by it's consistant, large fruit size and appearance during the early spring and summer period for the fresh market. The fruit of this cultivar is produced on red, strong, thorny canes. When plants are grown and pruned correctly, yield in Central California, USA can be up to 4,500 crates/ac if the fruit is handled and shipped correctly.

Description

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Rubus ursinus.

Variety denomination: ‘HJ-7’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct trailing blackberry variety designated as ‘HJ-7’. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made by the inventors, Harold A. Johnson Jr. and Judith E. Johnson, in 2005 between the blackberry variety designated ‘Obsidian’ (female) and the blackberry variety designated ‘Eaton’ (male), both parental varieties unpatented. The variety ‘HJ-7’ is botanically known as Rubus ursinus.

The seedling resulting from the aforementioned cross was selected from a controlled breeding plot near Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, Calif. in 2007 by the inventors. After its selection, the new variety was further asexually propagated beginning in October of 2007 in Watsonville, Santa Cruz County, Calif. by tissue culture. The new variety was then tested in fruiting fields in Santa Cruz County, Calif. This propagation has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein as characterizing the new variety are fixed and remain true to type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

‘HJ-7’ is primarily adapted to the climate and growing conditions of the Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties in Calif., and is being tested in Southern California, and in Europe. ‘HJ-7’ has reacted favorably to the coastal climates of northern coastal California, but for maximum fruit production, ‘HJ-7’ requires consistent soil moisture and adequate nutrition. ‘HJ-7’ reacts favorably to an environment created by plastic tunnels.

The following traits have been observed and are determined to be unique characteristics of ‘HJ-7’, which in combination distinguish this blackberry plant as a new and distinct variety.

• • 1. consistent early spring production of large size, good quality fruit.
  • 2. Medium to large fruit size responds favorably to careful packing when shipped in 6 oz. clamshell baskets;
  • 3. thorny and trailing plant structure; and
  • 4. Early spring fruit production, starting in May, with peak production in early June, and continued, limited production through June and further, when grown in Santa Cruz County, Calif.

When the new blackberry variety ‘HJ-7’ is compared to the female parental variety ‘Obsidian’, the following trait differences have been observed:

• • 1. The peak fruit production of ‘HJ-7’ occurs slightly earlier than ‘Obsidian’, and earlier than most trailing and erect types;
  • 2. in holding testing after picking, the average flavor rating was the same, but ‘HJ-7’ rated higher in appearance than ‘Obsidian’ after various days in cold storage;
  • 3. ‘HJ-7’ has produced less crates per acre than ‘Obsidian’.
  • 4. the average soluble solids concentration of ‘Obsidian’ is 10.8, and ‘HJ-7’ is 12.0.
  • 5. the average seed size of ‘HJ-7’ is is 3.82 mm in length and 2.33 mm in width, and ‘Obsidian’ 4.00 mm in length and 1.93 mm in width.

When the new blackberry variety ‘HJ-7’ is compared to the male parental variety ‘Eaton’, the following trait differences have been observed:

• • 1. ‘HJ-7’ has thorns whereas ‘Eaton’ has no thorns;
  • 2. the fruit size and shape of ‘HJ-7’ is medium, and ovate to elliptical while the fruit size and shape of ‘Eaton’ is small, and long conic;
  • 3. ‘HJ-7’ has determinate inflorescence which limits the number of peduncles as well as the length and number of each pedicel per plant leading to a limited number of berries which are larger in size, whereas ‘Eaton’ has indeterminate inflorescence which produces a larger number of smaller berries per plant;
  • 4. ‘HJ-7’ has an abundant supply of pollen which leads to a minimum number of malformed fruit, whereas ‘Eaton’ lacks consistently good pollen at the end of its indeterminate inflorescences and thus often produces poorly-shaped, small fruit;
  • 5. ‘HJ-7’ has larger leaves than ‘Eaton’; and
  • 6. ‘HJ-7’ has stronger overall vegetative strength than ‘Eaton’.

When the new blackberry variety ‘HJ-7’ is compared to the similar variety ‘HJ-6’, the following trait differences have been observed:

• • 1. the fruit production of ‘HJ-6’ occurs later in the season than ‘HJ-7’;
  • 2. the overall (total season) production of ‘HJ-6’ is greater than that of ‘HJ-7’;
  • 3. the average berry size of ‘HJ-6’ (8-10 g) is larger than the average berry size of ‘HJ-7’ (6-7 g);
  • 4. the leaf color of ‘HJ-6’ is lighter in early June (7.5 GY4-4) than the leaf color of ‘HJ-7’ at the same point in the season (7.5 GY3-2); and
  • 5. ‘HJ-6’ is considered superior to ‘HJ-7’ in side-by-side flavor test results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The accompanying color photographs illustrate the overall appearance of typical specimens of the new blackberry variety, ‘HJ-7’ as true as reasonably possible with color reproductions of this type. Plants shown in the photographs are two years old.

FIG. 1, taken May 18, 2009 illustrates typical early fruit during May showing large, circular berries with large drupelets. This is in contrast to subsequest fruit production which becomes medium ovate in outline. FIG. 1 also illustrates floricanes at two stages of maturity; the darker cane being the more mature. The pedicels and peduncles both have thorns; some pointed outward and some downward. The leaflets have bi-serrate serrations and are ovate with an acuminate to acute apex.

FIG. 2, taken in October 2009, illustrates the typical large fruit produced by ‘HJ-7’ that is long-conical to oblong in shape, contains large droplets, and is present in all by the early season crop. There are thorns on some pedicels. FIG. 2 further illustrates the typical foliage produced by ‘HJ-7’; that comprises mostly 5 leaflets, each leaflet being ovate in shape, with an acuminate to acute apex, bi-serrate serrations, and palmate venation. The leaf petiole, as well as, the fruit peduncle, as further illustrated in FIG. 2, has a red surface.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The following description of ‘HJ-7’ unless otherwise noted, is based on observations taken during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons in Santa Cruz County, Calif. The plants observed were two years old. The phenotypical descriptions and color designations stated for the new variety may vary, depending upon variations in environmental factors, including weather (temperature, humidity and light intensity), day length, soil type, location and cultural conditions. ‘HJ-7’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions.

Table 1 provides a botanical comparison of ‘HJ-7’ to the following two (2) unpatented, commercially grown varieties in Santa Cruz County, Calif.: (1) ‘Obsidian’, a trailing, semi-erect, thorny and early ripening variety (female parental variety, unpatented), and (2) ‘HJ-6’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,270), a sibling to ‘HJ-7’.

TABLE 1
	Comparison	Comparison
	Variety 1 ‘HJ-6’	Variety 2
CHARAC-	(U.S. Plant Pat.	OBSIDIAN	New Variety
TERISTIC	No. 23,270)	(unpatented)	‘HJ-7’
Plant Form
Growth Habit	Trailing,	Trailing,	Trailing-semi
	semi-upright	semi-upright	-upright
Plant Height	4 to 5 feet	4 to 5 feet	4 to 5 feet
Suckering	Abundant	Abundant	Abundant
Branching	Indeterminate	Indeterminant	Indeterminate
Cane Texture	Thorny	Thorny	Thorny
Hardiness	Very Hardy	Very Hardy	Very Hardy
Canes	hair on new	Hair on new	hair on new
	growth	growth	growth
Diameter-	Large-1.8 cm	Medium-1.2 cm	Med to Large
Primocane			1.2-2.0 cm
Floricane	Same Diameter	Same Diameter	Same Diameter
Immature	Round to Angular	Round to Angular	Round to
Primocane			Angular
Mature
Primocane
Internode Length
Color
Prickles	Red to green	Red to Green	Red to Green
Mature Canes	All red 2.5R 2/2	Upper side red	Upper side red
		2.5R 2/6	2.5R2/6
Foliage	Robust, large	Robust,	Robust,
	leaves	medium leaves	medium leaves
Predominate	Mostly 5; some 3	Mostly 3, some	Mostly 3,
Number of		4, 5	some 5
Leaflets
Leaf Type	Mainly palmate	Odd palmate to	Mainly palmate
		intermediate
Leaf Color
Upper Surface	5 GY 3/4	5 GY 3/4	5GY 3/2
Lower Surface	7.5 GY 5/6	7.5 GY 5/6	7.5 GY6/6
Central Leaflet	Ovate with	Ovate with acute	Ovate with
Shape	acuminate apex	to acuminate apex	acuminate apex
Leaflet Relief	Medium	Strong	Strong
Between Veins
Spine Attitude	Outward,	Mainly outward	Outward and
	some down		many down
Serrations of	Shallow	Shallow	Shallow
Leaflets
Leaf Incision	Bi-serrate	Bi-serrate	Bi-serrate
of Margin
Pubescence	Infrequent, no	Abundant, no	Infrequent, no
	glandular hairs	glandular hairs	glandular hairs
Petioles Width	2.41 mm	1.5-2.0 mm	1.5-2.0 mm
Color	Top-2.5R2/2;	Predom 5GY	Predom5GY
	Bottom 5GY2/2	2/2	2/2
Texture	Smooth w small	Predom smooth	Smooth
	thorns
Length	4-6 cm	3-5 cm	2-3 cm
Flowers
Blooming Period	Mid March-	Early March-	Early March-
	April	April	April
Color
Pedicels	Short Pedicels	Medium	Medium
	3-6 cm	3-6 cm	3-6 cm
Size of Florets
Petals
Number	5 to 6	5	5
Shape	Irregular	Irregular	Irregular
	elliptical	elliptical	elliptical
Color	WhiteN9.25/	White N9.25/	White N9.25/
	84.2% R	84.2% R	84.2% R
Pollen	Strong	Strong	Strong
# of Sepals	5-; Length 5 to	5; Length 4 to	5; Length 4 to
	10 mm in length;	8 mm. Some	6 mm. Rare
	some sepal with	sepals with leaf	leaf extensions
	leaf extensions	extensions	on sepals
#of Pistils
Fruit
Productivity	Medium--high;	High	Medium
	long picking
	season
Time of	Late spring to	Late May to July	May to July
Fruiting	summer, June-July
Size	Very large;	Medium-large;	Medium-large;
	avg 8 gm	avg 6 gm	avg 6-8 gm
Shape	Oblong to conic	Elliptical,	Oblong to
		some circular	conic; some
			elliptical in
			early season
Color
Immature	Green to red	Green to red	Green to red
Mature	N1.75/2.5% R	N1.75/2.5R	N1.75/2.5% R
Glossiness	Medium to full	Medium to full	Medium to Full
Weight	6 to 12 gm	6 to 8 gm	6 to 10 gm
Length	30 to 35 mm	25 to 30 mm	25 to 30 mm
Diameter	20 to 25 mm	20 to 25 mm	20 to 30 mm
Drupelets
Size	3 to 4 mm	4.0 to 5.0 mm	3 to 4.5 mm
# per Berry
Seed
Size	Length 3.54 mm;	Length 4.00 mm	Length 3.82;
	Width 1.93 mm	Width 1.93 mm	Width 2.33 mm
Weight
Soluble Solids	9.2%	10.8%	12.0%
pH
Yield Ave of	6991 crates/acre	5408 crates/acre	3842 crates/ac
2 yrs		avg.
Disease/Pest	Red Mite	Red Mite	Red Mite
Resistance	susceptible	susceptible	susceptible
Uses	Fresh Market	Fresh Market;	Fresh Market
		Processing
When color is identified, the Munsell Book of Color (March 1976) is used.
Yield-crates/acre (crate = 4.5 lb)

Claims

1. A new and distinct variety of Rubus ursinus plant named ‘HJ-7’, as herein described and illustrated by the characteristics set forth above.