Stevens x (Ben Lear x Franklin)
Scarlet Knight® is the result of a cross made in 1995 between Stevens and a Franklin Ben Lear cross, and was named for the Rutgers University mascot.
Scarlet Knight® is distinguished by its early, uniform dark fruit color and exceptionally high fruit TAcy content.
This variety consistently produced superior quality, early season fruit, commanding premium pricing in the fresh fruit market.
Scarlet Knight® boasts an outstanding shelf life when kept in cold storage.
The Scarlet Knight test plot had significantly lower rot numbers and very high color numbers (TACY from 53 to 91 in early Oct) compared to the other varieties. What we have found over the past three years is that they have great keeping quality and fantastic customer appeal. Overall yields have been similar to or just better than Stevens. Their round shape also lends itself to electronic sorters better than oblong berries due to the physics of movement through a system that relies on sensors and ejection jets. In short, these have been a great fresh fruit variety for us. We have planted 20 acres so that these can be our only fresh fruit variety.
-Joe Darlington and Brenda Conner, J.J. White, Incorporated
Please Contact us to learn more about Scarlet Knight®.