Seaberry

My Titan Seaberry had two berries this year. The one I tasted was ok but I dont know if it was fully ripe. The seed in the berry was larger than I expected. Anyone have experience with Seaberry? Are there varieties with smaller seeds?

2 Likes

wish i coud grow this where am at. Reportedly the only source of vitamin c in certain parts of europe during ww2. Funny how a weedy fruit could be a critical thing during a war.

also always hear from people growing it pesticide-free.

3 Likes

I grew Seaberries back in Russia. We had two varieties without names. One was very prolific, but impossible to eat row and the other was sweeter and better tasting, but still I would not eat it. They are supposed to be very healthy, especially the oil that can be extracted from the seeds. They were easy to grow, and the berries had very attractive bright orange color, just the taste was so intense and peculiar, that I hated it. There are so many other better tasting fruits and berries. I wish that the modern selection can improve its taste.

3 Likes

Seaberry seems to be an acquired taste. I happen to like it quite a bit (diluted and sweetened some). Straight/raw from the plant is a bit hard to take for most people.
Hard to say whether your “larger than I expected” is common or just on that particular variety. I am growing named varieties (not Titan), and the seeds were not overwhelming. Bigger than say raspberry seeds, but IIRC the seed to fruit ratio was in the ballpark of other fruits (all from memory as I did not get a crop this year, see below).

On a related note, I had one of seaberry plants outright die this spring and another almost die. They both appeared to be doing fine, then with leaves and flowers out everything turned brown suddenly. No particular reason that I could see (no rodent or insect damage, no weather events but it was pretty wet for us this spring). Just curious if anyone out there had seen this sudden die-off before.

1 Like

Been eating sea berries this past couple weeks. Seeding variety (not named) and only 1 of the 3 I have has had any fruit ( so at least 1 must be male). Wife and kids like it too. Tart, yet sweet too. Hopefully production will increase too as I’ve probably only got a hundred or so on a six door plant right now.

Big downside to me in wanting to plant 1-2 named varieties is that these 3 plants are the 5th-7th plants I have put into the ground. I don’t want to pay top $ for plants and get such a poor chance at survival. Thankfully the nursery I would order from is currently out of stock.

Strangely One Green World was once THE source for these and they don’t even list them on the website anymore.

Scott

1 Like

I tried them here in zone 7b borderline 8 but they don’t like our hot humid weather too much and I eventually lost all 3 plants. The male hung in the longest but I finally lost it too.

1 Like

I grew a number of these 1995-2005, there was some sudden die-off, attributed to root rot. The older offerings (German) in the 1990s did very well but the newer (Russian) plants never grew or fruited much over 3 to4 years. A number of varieties can be found on the OGW website by typing “buckthorn” into the search box.

Peak harvest one year was 40 pounds from 4 females. Dilution ratio: 2 cups juice to 5 cups water, added sugar. Straight juice was very good in ice cream recipe.

3 Likes

I had one suddenly die off this spring, I figure too much side competition from all the suckering native plums helped cause it, maybe too moist of microclimate formed.
I have some of my seedlings produce fruit, flavor is interesting to me, but too small of berries to mess with, and too early in the season ripening, so the swd hits it hard.

1 Like

I planted a half dozen or more of these 5 years ago, now down to 2 survivors…hopefully one is a boy and one a girl! I wonder if these are better adapted to alkaline soil conditions, or if it has been overly abundant summer moisture that has caused them to do poorly here. The plants I started with were pretty small to start with, and arrived bareroot. Typical pattern would be for them to leaf out and look okay for a month or two, then get some yellowing and crispy leaf margins and look sad in the summer, defloliating by early fall, and they died off a couple each year.

1 Like

My male Seaberry died after 3 years and I don’t know why. It only grew about 2 feet in three years. I bought a replacement and that died the first year. I’ll try one more time.

2 Likes

Any updates? I was thinking about adding some seaberries but these reports do not sound promising. I have a wet winter, cool wet fall and spring, dry summer climate. For some reason, the nursery websites dont describe a die-off problem :slight_smile: Sounds like the German ones might do better than the Siberian ones?

2 Likes

I bought a male Seaberry this year from Indiana Berry. It was small but is growing very nicely. I have it in a pot and will not put it in the ground until the fall or next spring.

2 Likes

I am surprised at the trouble you folks are having with seaberries. Although they can die out when young I have had not mortality once the plant is a couple of year old. In fact the male plant which is near the garden is invasive, constantly trying to send up shoots in the garden. Female plants aren’t quite that vigorous but given enough water they will spread too.

Perhaps a difference in climate.

3 Likes

I’ve had greatly varying results with seaberries and I think it is related to how well the plants were rooted when purchased. Poorly rooted plants never took off and languished for years.

3 Likes

I have 6 Seaberry plants that are in their sixth season. Last year was the first year we had a few fruit. I had some that experienced that dying issue last winter and I think one was the male, because there are no fruit this year. They are very invasive and taking over the blueberries next to them. I am going to remove them next year, because the fruit weren’t that good and were very hard to harvest due to thickness of the shrubbery and thorns.

4 Likes

I planted 50 once and they lived 3 years but never grew and then died. They don’t seem to like Kansas. The berries are very known in ancient cultures Product Development of Sea Buckthorn
http://www.seabuckthorninsider.com/education/legends-of-the-berry/

It is a desert plant. I have several 1 dollar seedlings from Burnt Ridge around the orchard perimeter. It needs good watering the first year and full sun. It needs reasonably dry feet after the first year. I have noted that those planted with a piece of rotten wood in the hole survived much better than those planted completely bare root, but that is what happens to my fruit trees too.

3 Likes

The first male I had grew very slowly and died after a few years. It could have been poor root structure but they should have developed after the first year. The male I bought this year and potted is growing fast and has dense foliage. Next year when it is planted in the ground I’ll see if it is a problem with the soil. It may not be a soil problem since the female plant I have is doing ok although I haven’t seen any flowers on it this year.

2 Likes

Seaberries I read are nitrogen fixing. Prehaps the new transplants are missing symbiotic bacteria. maybe you might want to take a soil sample from the existing surviving plants and add it to the new transplants.

6 Likes

The seedlings are now $4.50 each. Ordered 10 unsexed this year which I’m growing in 5 gallon buckets with drainage holes.

2 Likes