BVV, the big slicer "Sundog" is a Beta-orange black (I think Uluru Ochre may be, for comparison) so although the size of a CP the taste is quite different, and they were not at all close to stable - the two fruit were really different. The Rodneys were quite good overall with a couple outstanding flavor, but they are much smaller than a CP. So there's work to be done before we get where you're dreaming of.
I'll post some pics and talk about them more, but I wanted to say something about the Black Nipper first.
I have a few good things and bad things to say about them.
- They have been a great parent line to work with. Easy to use as a mother. Rodney and Skipper were a cross with the Black Nipper F2 and both lines have amazing flavor and other qualities.
- They set lots of nice plump fruit outdoors here, which Black Cherry wouldn't do for me (pic 1)
- I still think the fruit are 'as good as Black Cherry' but I will do a side by side grow and taste test before I'm sure of it.. it's been a while since I tasted Black Cherry!
- They still have the 'self-staking foliage' trait for which they're named. I went to tie up the branch that was working its way across the 'wood stacker' and found it was already firmly clutching onto the rope.
(pic 2)
Incidentally, how does a determinate grow longer? A new shoot emerges from the side of the terminal bud. This becomes a new sequence of the determinate cluster pattern. Technically I guess "semi-determinate" is a better word for it.
On the down side, one key trait I seem to have lost along the way is the robust foliage health. The past two generations have not been at all resistant to molds and blights, and started to suffer as soon as it turned wet and cold. So although they don't seem well suited to my greenhouse for the growth habit issues, they're not great for outdoors either.
I may go back a couple of generations at some time and try again...
I think the plan for the F6 though will be to put them outdoors when they're small and see if that makes a difference to foliage health as well as growth habit.