Patent Grant
PP22781
Genus and species: Fragaria×ananassa Duch.
Variety denomination: ‘Puget Crimson’.
This invention relates to a new and distinct June-bearing (short day) strawberry cultivar designated as ‘Puget Crimson’, which resulted from a hand pollinated cross of ‘Schwartze’ and ‘Valley Red’ made in 2003 at the Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Puyallup, Wash. ‘Schwartze’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,067) is a late season, short day, fresh market cultivar that is marketed under the name ‘Puget Summer’. ‘Valley Red’ (not patented) is an early season, short day cultivar primarily suited to processing with dark interior and exterior color.
‘Puget Crimson’ was selected in 2005 at the Washington State University Puyallup Research and Extension Center Roy Goss Farm at Puyallup, Wash., and was propagated asexually by runners (stolons) and by tissue culture. The selection was tested as WSU 2833. Asexually propagated propagules from this original source have been tested at the Roy Goss Farm and to a limited extent in grower fields.
‘Puget Crimson’ is distinguished by fruit that is large, firm, and easily capped, with excellent flavor. Fruit is produced very late in the June-bearing season. ‘Puget Crimson’ is well adapted to a perennial, matted-row production system in the Pacific Northwest.
The new and distinct cultivar of strawberry originated from a hand-pollinated cross of ‘Schwartze’בValley Red’ made in 2003 in Puyallup, Wash. ‘Schwartze’ is marketed under the name ‘Puget Summer’ and is a short-day cultivar that produces conical, firm, easily capped fruit with excellent flavor very late in the June-bearing season. Fruit produced early in the season is large, but later fruit can be much smaller and fruit in the second fruiting season is medium to small in size. Most of the fruit of ‘Schwartze’ is held up off the ground during fruit development. Plants of ‘Schwartze’ are very vigorous, but are very susceptible to powdery mildew. ‘Valley Red’ is an early season short-day plant that produces medium to large sized fruit that is conic in shape with good uniformity in size and shape.
Seeds resulting from the controlled hybridization of ‘Schwartze’ and ‘Valley Red’ were germinated in a greenhouse in Puyallup, Wash. in 2003-04 and planted at the Roy Goss Farm in spring 2004. The seedlings fruited in the summer of 2005 and one seedling, designated WSU 2833, was selected for its attractive, large fruit with excellent flavor and late ripening season. The original plant selection was propagated asexually by runners (stolons) and using tissue culture at Puyallup, Wash. and a test planting of eight plants was established in 2006. This planting was harvested in 2007 and 2008, and WSU 2833 had high yields of very large, excellent flavored fruit. Based on its 2007 performance, WSU 2833 was planted in three replications of eight plants in 2008 and 2009 at the Roy Goss Farm. The combination of traits disclosed herein that characterize ‘Puget Crimson’ have been retained true to type through successive cycles of asexual propagation.
The following list of traits in combination define the new cultivar as a unique cultivar distinguishing it from other commercial short day strawberries in the region:
‘Puget Crimson’ is distinguished from ‘Schwartze’ by larger fruit size in ‘Puget Crimson’, especially in the second fruiting season. The color of both the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves of ‘Puget Crimson’ differ from ‘Schwartze’ by ‘Puget Crimson’ having greater chroma values in Munsell notation. The proportion of the leaf margin with serrations is less on ‘Puget Crimson’ than on ‘Schwartze’.
‘Puget Crimson’ is distinguished from ‘Valley Red’ by having a much later ripening period for ‘Puget Crimson’ and a greater fruit length to width ratio for ‘Puget Crimson’.
‘Puget Crimson’ is distinguished from ‘Puget Reliance’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,310) by having a much later ripening period for ‘Puget Crimson’.
The accompanying photographs show typical specimens of the new cultivar, in color as nearly true as it is reasonably possible to make in color illustrations of this character. Photographs are intended to show morphological features of the plant.
When objects could be accurately measured with an 8 mm diameter measuring opening (leaves and fruit), color was measured with a Minolta Chroma Meter CR-400, which measures color in L*, a*, b* color coordinates. Calibration was performed using a standard white plate supplied by the manufacturer. These L*, a*, b* coordinates were converted and are presented in Munsell color notation. For all other color measurements, color was compared with Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart color plates and presented as Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, London designations (R.H.S.).
The descriptions reported herein are from specimens grown at Puyallup, Wash., unless otherwise noted. The characteristics of the new cultivar may vary in detail, depending on variations in environmental factors, such as temperature, rainfall, humidity and light intensity. ‘Puget Crimson’ has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions.
Fruit, Fruit Production and Fruit Quality Characteristics
Fruiting trusses were collected for ‘Puget Crimson’, ‘Firecracker’ and ‘Valley Red’ on Jun. 14, 2010 (
Bloom for ‘Puget Crimson’ began about the week of May 17 in 2010 and a few blooms were still present Jun. 27, 2010. The timing of the bloom period of ‘Puget Crimson’ is very similar to ‘Firecracker’ and ‘Schwartze’.
Fruit of ‘Puget Crimson’, ‘Firecracker’ and ‘Schwartze’ harvested Jul. 9, 2010 were measured (Table 2). Fruit of ‘Schwartze’ was smaller than that of ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Firecracker’. The length of ‘Puget Crimson’ fruit was longer than either ‘Firecracker’ or ‘Schwartze’. The length to width ratio for ‘Puget Crimson’ was greater than that of ‘Firecracker’. Fruit of ‘Puget Crimson’ harvested on Jul. 9, 2010 were large, glossy, attractive and uniform (
Fruit was harvested in 2009 and 2010 from replicated plots of ‘Puget Crimson’ and other Pacific Northwest cultivars planted June 2008 (Table 3). In 2009, ‘Puget Crimson’ had the greatest yield, although there were no significant differences among cultivars. In 2010, ‘Puget Reliance’, ‘Tillamook’ and ‘Puget Crimson’ had the greatest yield. ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Tillamook’ had the largest fruit in both years. ‘Tillamook’ and ‘Puget Crimson’ had the firmest fruit in 2009, but differed significantly only from ‘Hood’ and ‘Puget Reliance’. In 2010, fruit firmness of ‘Puget Crimson’, ‘Firecracker’ and ‘Tillamook’ was reduced because of weather conditions late in the season. The midpoint of harvest for ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Firecracker’ were significantly later than for other Pacific Northwest cultivars in both years.
Although ‘Schwartze’ was not included in the 2009 planting, it has been included in five plantings at Puyallup, Wash. that were harvested for two seasons since 1996. The average fruit weight for ‘Schwartze’ in the first harvest season for these plantings was 14.9 g with a range of 11.9 g (1998 planting harvested in 1999) to 16.4 g (2003 planting harvested in 2004). In the second harvest season, the average fruit weight for ‘Schwartze’ was 9.5 g with a range of 7.3 g (1996 planting harvested in 1998) to 10.7 g (2001 planting harvested in 2003). In the planting established in 1996, the fruit weight of ‘Schwartze’ in the first harvest season (1997) was 15.8 g and in the second season (1998) was 7.3 g, less than 50% of the first season. The fruit weight of ‘Puget Crimson’ in the 2008 planting was 15.0 g in the first harvest season and increased numerically to 16.8 g in the second harvest season (Table 3). The fruit weight of ‘Puget Crimson’ in the second harvest season is much larger than ‘Schwartze’ in a second harvest season.
‘Puget Crimson’ was compared to other cultivars including ‘Valley Red’ for harvest characteristics in plots established June 2009 (Table 4). The most distinct difference was the ripening season for ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Valley Red’. The midpoint of harvest for ‘Puget Crimson’ in 2010 was Jul. 5, 2010 while that for ‘Valley Red’ was June 12. This is also demonstrated in
The fruit storage effects on ‘Puget Crimson’ were compared to two other late-season cultivars for fruit harvested Jun. 9, 2010. Fruit was harvested, the fruit weighed and color measured and then the fruit were placed in individual containers and stored for 4 days at 4° C. After 4 days, the fruit was moved to room temperature (approximately 20° C.) for 4 hours and then the same fruit measured a second time. There were no differences among cultivars in the amount of weight lost, but ‘Puget Crimson’ had the lowest percentage weight loss (Table 5). Color after storage was similar for all cultivars. ‘Puget Crimson’ had acceptable storage characteristics.
Fruit samples of ‘Puget Crimson’ and two other late-season cultivars were collected in 2010 and analyzed for soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, total anthocyanins and total phenolics (Table 6). ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Firecracker’ had comparable levels of soluble solids, which were lower than those of ‘Schwartze’. Measurements of pH for ‘Puget Crimson’ were intermediate between the two cultivars. ‘Puget Crimson’ and ‘Firecracker’ have similar total anthocyanin levels and both are less than ‘Schwartze’.
The plants of ‘Puget Crimson’ are large and vigorous. It produces abundant runners and forms a very dense matted row with a dense canopy (
The leaves of ‘Puget Crimson’ are shown in
Comparative Plant Characteristics
Similar to its parent ‘Schwartze’, ‘Puget Crimson’ is susceptible to the powdery mildew [Spherotheca macularis (Wallr. Ex. Rg.)] and moderately susceptible to leaf scorch (Diplocarpon).
The invention was made in part with Federal formula funds pursuant to the Hatch Act and was part of Project WNP0038. The United States Government has certain rights in the invention.
