Columbia Giant cv.

Attributes

Thornless floricane trailing variety
Extra-large, uniformly well-shaped fruit
Great flavor and aromatics
Consistent black, glossy color
Early season berry with good yields
Good disease resistance
Easily harvested by machine or hand
Unique opportunity for customized packaging

Fruit Characteristics

The Columbia Giant blackberry variety is a thornless, early season floricane trailing variety, developed by plant breeder, Dr. Chad Finn, of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Corvallis, OR, and released by the Oregon State University (OSU).

The Columbia Giant blackberry variety stands out for its extremely large berry size (12 g avg.) that adds a real WOW factor and truly differentiates it from competing commercial varieties. This opens a unique opportunity to present the fruit in customized, high-end packaging for the fresh market.

Berries of the Columbia Giant blackberry variety are uniformly well-shaped with a consistent, black color and beautiful, glossy shine. The variety offers a nice balance of sweetness and acidity. The average BRIX measures 11.25 % with a Titratable Acidity of 18.5 %. The moderate firmness of the fruit rounds up the delightful eating experience when consuming a Columbia Giant blackberry.

The Columbia Giant variety ranks amongst the earliest trailing blackberry cultivars. The average yield of 5.9 kg per plant positions it in the mid-range.

Plant Characteristics

The Columbia Giant is a trailing, floricane blackberry cultivar. Its canes grow naturally towards the ground. The Columbia Giant blackberry variety is well-suited for a technique known as “new over old.” This has the advantage of much reduced labor and training cost. New canes can be trained right up through the older floricanes without any disease problems.

The Columbia Giant blackberry cultivar is thornless which facilitates the handling of the plants during training and harvest. Growers have the option to easily harvest the variety by machine or by hand.

Disease Management

The Columbia Giant blackberry variety requires minimal management to maintain a healthy crop and has shown excellent resistance to heat damage.

Climatic Requirements

Like most trailing blackberry varieties, Columbia Giant has been adapted to the Pacific Northwest and works well in regions with Mediterranean or coastal climate.

The variety has shown good cold-hardiness up to 9°F (-13°C). On occasion, the plants even survived down to 0°F (-18°C). 500 to 800 chill hours are required to achieve the best results when growing the Columbia Giant blackberry variety.

*Characteristics may vary depending on weather conditions, day length, soil type and location.