Primocane-Fruiting Red Raspberry Cultivar Evaluation in High Tunnels

Numerous primocane-fruiting red raspberry ( Rubus idaeus) cultivars have been introduced recently. Evaluating many genotypes for productivity and fruit quality traits is expensive and time-consuming. Here we grew 11 cultivars in containers under a high tunnel to quickly compare their performance. ‘Joan J’, ‘Caroline’, ‘Himbo Top’, ‘Anne’ and ‘Josephine’ were the most productive, producing 400-500 and 1,400-1,600 g per plant during year 1 and years 2-3, respectively. The earliness of ripening (earliest to latest) was ‘Autumn Britten’ > ‘Joan J’ = ‘Jaclyn’ = ‘Himbo Top’ = ‘Polka’ > ‘Caroline’ = ‘Anne’ > ‘Josephine’ > ‘Joan Irene’ = ‘Nantahala’ = ‘Crimson Giant’. Following a short storage period, berries of ‘Polka’, ‘Caroline’ and ‘Himbo Top’ rated high in appearance, and ‘Caroline’, ‘Jaclyn’, ‘Joan Irene’ and ‘Josephine’ had lower incidences of Botrytis gray mold.