From that 1 ft cane, I had several 3ft long fruiting laterals grow out and 20-30 berries to sample. Fruit size is smaller than Ouachita, in the 6-8 gram range; the berries tend to be round or at least rounder than Ouachita. The flavor is sweeter, when ripe, than Ouachita but not as full flavored as Triple Crown. You do have to wait a day or two from the black color stage for the sweetness whereas Triple Crown can be tolerable to eat just as it turns black. Ouachita always requires several days after turning black to arrive at mild sweetness. I would recommend it as a thornless blackberry option but make sure you give it at least 3ft between plants.

I'm including a picture of some of its fruit late in the year (Sept.)

Scott

I have had Prime Ark 45 for 2 full seasons now and I’m a big fan of the variety. On the plus side, the floricane crop ripens early and has nice large berries of good quality and flavor. On the down side, the variety is probably only cold hardy to 0F. Anything colder kills off the floricanes, although when you lose a floricane crop, the primocane (Fall ) crop appears to become much larger. Prime Ark is quite thorny and needs to be summer pruned to keep the highly erect canes from breaking during higher winds.

For Osage, I have not had a full fruiting season yet, so I can’t comment on production or fruit timing. My Osage are way off on their fruit production schedule which should occur during July not during September.