UK: Promising new varieties from summer fruiting raspberry trials
Exciting work coming out of the latest summer fruiting raspberry variety trials means that soft fruit growers have increased access to delicious and profitable selections.
Over the years, the UK Raspberry Breeding Programme has produced many competitive new varieties. The trial allowed the performance of a wide variety of selections to be compared to the industry standards, Tulameen and Octavia, in a commercial soil grown crop.
Outstanding amongst the main replicated plots were Squamish, the recently named Glen Carron, Glen Dee and two late selections from NIAB EMR.
Promising Selections
The Canadian variety Squamish produces unusually high yields for an early variety and has a low chilling requirement compared to Tulameen.
Glen Carron (formerly 0485K-1) produces a very high quality raspberry that is consistently larger than Tulameen. It does have a high chilling requirement, but it could perform well when used in sequential plantings of cold stored long canes.
Glen Dee offers a late season replacement to Octavia with very large berry size, high yields and high fruit quality.
The two NIAB EMR selections (EM6805/142 and EM 6804/81) also offer potential to replace Octavia offering higher yields and quality than this long established standard.
Also of interest from the guard plots included in the trial are two selections from Washington State University (WSU 1605 and WSU 1607) which have similar season to Tulameen and exceptionally large berry size.
With more selections becoming available each year, growers are encouraged to seize the opportunity to compare some of the new outstanding varieties and selections with their own production systems.
To find out more about the most promising selections, download the AHDB Summer Fruiting Raspberry Variety Trial factsheet at horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/publications