Caddo® (A-2428T)
Attributes
- Large berries (8g to 10g average)
- Excellent flavor and quality aromatics
- High-yield, fresh market berry
- Thornless, erect canes and easy to manage
- Excellent plant vigor and leaf health
- Firm fruit, great for storage and shipping
Fruit Characteristics
Outstanding characteristics of Caddo include large berries with very good fruit flavor, overall high fruit quality with excellent postharvest fruit-handling potential, consistent high yields, and excellent plant health. Also, diversification of an early mid-season cultivar choice beyond Osage and Ouachita is considered an attribute. Caddo should be a commercial cultivar with good potential for shipping, as well as an option for local-market production as well as home gardens. Caddo is expected to perform well in areas where Osage, Apache, Arapaho, Ouachita, Natchez, or Navaho are adapted, including all areas of the upper South and southeast U.S and into the Midwest, in addition to the West and Pacific Northwest.
Berry weight: 8 g on average, overall averages about 2 g larger than Osage, 2 g smaller than Natchez and 1.5 g larger than Ouachita.
Flavor: Flavor has always been consistent from harvest to harvest and year to year with Caddo. It is similar to its half-sister Osage in exhibiting consistent flavor. Berries are sweet with average soluble solids of 10.5% and titratable acidity 1%. Caddo has very attractive aromatic components which round out its nice flavor. Postharvest: Storage has been comparable to Ouachita and Osage for variables such as red drupelet development (reversion), berry leakage and firmness in storage. Flavor has been noted to be consistently retained after seven days of storage.
Plants: Caddo plants have always exhibited very good health with consistently healthy floricane leaves contributing to its noteworthy flavor. Caddo has proven to be disease free, having shown no orange rust, anthracnose or cane/leaf rust in all research trials. Winter hardiness has been comparable to Ouachita, and shown no to very limited winter injury to a low of 1F. Chilling requirement is not known, but is anticipated to be approximately 300 hours.
Postharvest: Storage has been comparable to Ouachita and Osage for variables such as red drupelet development (reversion), berry leakage and firmness in storage. Flavor is consistently retained after seven days of storage.