Triple Crown

Triple Crown was selected in 1983 at the USDA-ARS Fruit Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland from a cross of SIUS 68-2-5 with Arkansas 545 ('Darrow' x 'Brazos'), tested as US 1638, and released to nurseries in 1996 after roughly a decade of trials by Gene Galletta, John Maas, John Clark and Chad Finn. Its pedigree pulls in Chester Thornless, Hull Thornless, Black Satin and Darrow, and the name refers to three attributes the breeders were claiming at once: flavour, productivity and vigour. Productivity is the headline number - eight-year-old plants in Oregon produced more than 30 lb of fruit each in 1995. ARS testing rated it equal to Chester Thornless and Marion for colour, flavour and overall quality. What it cannot do is ship: firmness and shelf life are poor, which is why it has settled in as a home-garden, u-pick and roadside cultivar rather than a commercial packing variety.