In the James Hutton Limited trial plots, two polytunnels sit side by side housing 24 raspberry genotypes in replicated plots. One of the tunnels holds primocane varieties and selections and the other holds primocanes.  Known as the ‘demonstration tunnels’, they were erected and launched in 2018 thanks to generous sponsorship from several organisations*, to showcase Hutton bred varieties to the best standards of a commercial system, allowing visitors to view the plants and fruit, cultivated as they would be in the ‘real world’. 

Plants in the tunnel were all planted in 2019 in 10 litre pots.  2020 brought the challenge of not being able to cover the tunnels as soon as we would have liked and they were eventually covered on 24th June.  Fortunately for the plants, we enjoyed a very warm spring and summer.  

Lewis, an early primocane, had a fantastic season. The fruit was large and very bright and glossy. Skye, a double-cropping primocane, has a later season, between Kweli and Kwanza, showed consistent quality in both crops and demonstrated high yield potential with a high number of laterals per canes and fruit per lateral.  

In the floricane tunnel, Glen Mor did well too. It held its own with Glen Ample, beating it in size and coming in on par with brix.  Glen Carron, which is highly suited for long cane production, is a specialist early variety which began cropping on the same day as Glen Ample this year. Despite a shorter season than some of its counter parts, Glen Carron produces a high proportion of Class 1 fruit, tastes and looks fantastic and also has an outstanding shelf life, making it a potential favourite for retailers’ ‘best’ brands. 

Glen Mor, Lewis and Skye were all released as named varieties in 2020 and Glen Carron was named and released in 2018.  This document shows the tabulated results of trials in the demonstration tunnel for these and some other raspberry varieties. 

* Sponsorship for the demonstration tunnels was provided by Elite Tunnels, XL Horticulture, Ripple Aquaplast, AgriTech Services Ltd, Brinkman UK, Legro and Omex