Natchez

Natchez is a thornless blackberry released by the University of Arkansas in 2007 from a 1998 cross of Ark. 2005 x Ark. 1857, published as a cultivar release by Clark and Moore in HortScience 43(6). It was bred to combine the very large fruit size that thornless types had historically lacked with an early ripening window, and it remains one of the earliest thornless cultivars available. The berries are among the biggest of any thornless blackberry, and the plant is high-yielding enough that University of Florida trials in central Florida recorded the highest yields of any cultivar tested. Its weaknesses are equally well documented: fair to poor shelf life, orange rust susceptibility, and a tendency toward tart, seedy fruit and declining cane vigour under Florida conditions. Growers pick it for early volume at a farm stand or u-pick rather than for shipping.