University of Arkansas releases late-season blackberry

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

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.