Anyone growing Eclipse blackberry?

General Fruit Growing
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Does anyone have Eclipse growing? I haven’t really seen much reported about this one so I’m not sure if it’s nothing too different from the other thornless blackberries or if it’s just not that widespread.

It is reported as cold hardy, which I would like to confirm with any growers in zone 6 if possible. I’m mostly curious about the flavor. I found the following statement in a release about the variety: "Mary Peterson, an ARS biological technician, says, Eclipse inherited Triple Crown’s outstanding flavor, beloved for its sweet, fruity taste, with hints of root beer and spice. "

I love finding the odd super aromatic wild blackberry, so to me that sounds pretty interesting! Too good to be true?

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“Although ‘Eclipse’s overall adaptation to the eastern United States is not well tested, it has proven to be winter hardy in Arkansas (J.R. Clark, personal communication) and North Carolina (G.E. Fernandez, personal communication), but not in Massachusetts (P. Rizzo, personal communication).”

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The online vendors selling 6 to 12 month-old tissue-cultured Eclipse starts for $25 each are greedy. A tray of 72 starts is under $200.

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Yeah that might be a dealbreaker unless anyone else has trialed it up north too.

That’s what made me want to ask first. Descriptions always sound good, but it’s hard to know if it will be worth it.

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We tested it in central NC now zone 8A side by side with Galaxy, Twlight, Caddo, Von and a few other Arkansas varieties

Only fruited them for one year but I did not see any compelling reason to add the new varieties to our plantings. Did not see much flavor improvement compared to what we had been growing. We pushed out about an acre of 15 year old Arkansas varieties and were looking to replace them with several of the new varieties before our test.

I expect they would be a lot better in a cooler climate.

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