Blackberries in Arkansas

Blackberries are a native crop to many areas of the United States and are adapted to a wide range of environments. Unlike many fruit crops, blackberries can be grown with little to no pesticide use in gardens and require less inputs in commercial production.?

The most limiting factor in blackberry production is winter hardiness, or resistance to winter injury to the canes.

The Arkansas varieties lack hardiness in the upper Midwest and northward. The major limitation to blackberry production in the deep South is the fungal disease double blossom/rosette, to which the Arkansas-developed thornless varieties show resistance.

The Arkansas varieties have been shown to be adapted statewide. They are upright in growth habit and should be grown in a hedgerow-type system. They do not require the trellising system used for trailing and semi-erect varieties.

The University of Arkansas has released a new late-season blackberry, Sweet-Ark Immaculate.

Sweet-Ark Immaculate grows medium to large berries and is available for the 2024 planting season, according to a news release.

"It is named to highlight its berry quality, which is beyond reproach, and its late-ripening season," Margaret Worthington , director of the fruit breeding program for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, said in the release. "People have been asking about a new late-season variety from the Arkansas program for a long time now. The main advantages Sweet-Ark Immaculate has over other late-season blackberry varieties are its outstanding post-harvest performance and its great yield potential."

Worthington said Sweet-Ark Immaculate maintains its fruit firmness in post-harvest storage. She also said its red drupelet reversion, when the round segments of the berry turn from black to red during or after post-harvest, is similar to early-season varieties.

Sweet Ark-Immaculate picks the last week of June through mid-to-late July, which is after Ouachita but similar to Navaho and Von, according to the release.

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