Columbia Sunrise cv.

Attributes

• Thornless, floricane trailing variety
• Earliest-ripening trailing blackberry variety on the market
• Exceptional flavor and sweetness
• Medium, uniformly well-shaped fruit
• Consistent black, glossy color
• Great firmness
• Good yields
• Very good disease resistance
• Easily harvested by machine or hand

 

Fruit Characteristics

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

The Columbia Sunrise variety is known as the earliest ripening trailing blackberry currently on the market. Its berries have fantastic flavor and sweetness with an average BRIX of 13 % and Titratable Acidity of 18.3 %. The fruit grow evenly to an attractive, medium to large size (8.15g avg.) with no to very little cull. This makes the Columbia Sunrise blackberry variety an excellent fit for the commonly available clamshells.

The Columbia Sunrise blackberry cultivar is suitable for the fresh, IQF and processing industry due to its superior eating and shipping qualities. The fruit of this variety offers ideal firmness, facilitating the harvest and improving the shelf-life.

A mean yield of 4.5 to 5.4 kg per plant was documented in post-harvest evaluations in the Pacific Northwest, placing the Columbia Sunrise variety in the mid-range of the currently available, commercial blackberry cultivars in the market.

 

Plant Characteristics

The Columbia Sunrise blackberry variety is a floricane cultivar with a trailing growth habit. The canes grow naturally towards the ground, allowing growers to train the new canes through the older floricanes. This “new over old” technique reduces training and labor cost. Plants of the Columbia Sunrise variety are thornless, facilitating management and harvest by hand as well as by machine. The Columbia Sunrise blackberry variety has shown high plant vigor, reaching its full bloom in the beginning of May. 50% of the ripe fruit is available in the beginning of July. ­