First 3 Fruits to ripen?

General Fruit Growing
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In the last 3 - 4 years I have tried honeyberry, goumi, jostaberry and currants…

With the Hope of finding earlier ripening fruit / berries.

I am in zone 7a Southern middle TN.

My honeyberries have grown leafed bloomed set some fruit early and dropped fruit early.
Have got NO Ripe fruit from them yet.

About ready to pull them and replace with raspberries or strawberries.

My jostaberry and currants… are living but not really thriving… and in year 2 and 3… they each have like only half dozen berries on.

They are on my possible yank list too.

Is it too early to give up on these ? Should I give them more time ?

We started getting our first ripe strawberries this week.

Josta and currant berries are still small and green… and so far not even close to producing like strawberries do. That is why I am starting to think tank those and replace with strawberries.

The honeyberries produced no fruit in 3 years… no doubt raspberry or strawberry would have produced plenty.

My goumi has some early ripe berries on now. Not impressed with flavor so far… but will keep those… they are providing nitrogen for 3 apple trees.

So far… it looks like my first 3 fruits to ripen are…

1… strawberries - may 6 this year
2… goumi - may 7th this year
3… Loganberry - may 22 last year

Again I am in zone 7a TN.

Would love to have other early ripening berries or fruit.

Do any of you grow something you really like that ripens early ?

What’s your first 3 fruit/berries to ripen ?

And if you don’t mind list your State and zone.

Thanks

TNHunter

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Honeyberry hasn’t produced in 3 years? If it had been more than 6 inches tall to begin it might have in 3 years! Apples on M111 root can take 7 or 8 years to bear. Some pears take longer.

Patience used to be virtuous.

(But, I’ve moved to B118 or other apple roots…so I’m also tired of the length of time for the M111 fruit.) The honeyberries, gooseberries, currants…given some regular moisture and fertilizer should do ok. I bet if you bought honeyberries in 3 or 5 gallon pots, they’d bear right aWay…if you could find that size for sale.

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PS. EarlyGlo strawberry ought to bear 1 year after planting and fruit first days of May in TN.

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@BlueBerry - I planted eversweet strawberries early last spring… they were reported to do well in SE hot summers, everbearing, and fruit even in 100 degree temps… I kept the blooms and runners off until early July and then let them fruit… but kept runners off until late fall.

They produced nice sweet berries aug sept nov until our first hard frost on dec 3.

The berries were mostly smallish… but good.

Adding some Seascape this year…

Planted some sure crop June bearer last year too and they are the ones getting ripe this week.

TNHunter

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You can’t go wrong with Earliglow. Honeyoye another good one. And “Sparkle”.
The ‘antique’ called “Tennessee Beauty” is a good later berry.

I’ve not tried the ones from the past couple decades…recently released varieties I’m not up to speed on. Surecrop is ok…but a bit light on runners and berries…taste is excellent.

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@BlueBerry – I started 3 new apple trees last spring… focused on OGW catalog info on disease resistent varieties… later bloomers… that ripened at diff times…

I asked for rootstock most resistent to fire blight… and I think what they gave me was 107 ?

They all grew nicely last year…

Akane, Gold Rush, Hudson Golden Gem.

This spring my GR bloomed… the other two did not. But my Mac apple still had some blooms going when the GR bloomed… and I hand pollinated it.

I have fruit set on the GR now.

As far as starting to fruit early… 2nd year on a apple tree seems to be quite early to me.

It has 4 bloom clusters that have all set fruit now. Is it ok to let a 2yr apple tree develop a few of those ?

Would love to try a GR late this fall.

PS … what I am really looking for in this post is any kind of fruit or berry that ripens early in the year … April ? May ?

TNHunter

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Yes, I thought that was what you were asking. Honeyberries and Earliglow strawberries are earliest that I can think of.

Your roots might be MM106…from OGW.

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@BlueBerry — checked my invoice from OGW order… it was actually M-7 rootstock on my 3 new apples.

I told them I had previously lost 3 apple trees to FB and a few pears too. During that time I had a Bradford pear just up wind of my orchard and I think that was the source of FB.

The Bradford is gone now…

The M-7 per their description… dwarfs to 65% Resistent to FB powdery mildew and root collar rot.

My Gold Rush has fruit set in year 2 on this M7. The Akane and HG Gem are looking good but neither bloomed this spring.

TNHunter

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I see earlyglow listed in OGW catalog in the June bearing section… that say it is the earliest ripening variety… performs especially well in eastern us.

If my sure crop are ripening first week in may… as they are now… might get some earlyglow ripening end of april.

That would be nice.

TNHunter

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Count your blessings if you got fruit on M7 in 2 years. 4 is more normal, or even later.

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Looking thru my OGW catalog on this rainy Sat morning… for early ripening fruit possibilities… I found these…

First, the ripening dates listed by OGW are obviously way different than what I get here in Southern Middle Tennessee.

For example - I bought my Loganbarry from OGW… they say Ripening in July
Mine actually start ripening late May (May 22 last year).

Other Berries that they mention as being early, that I wonder exactly how early they would be for me are…

BlackBerries…

Obsidian – they list as a Early Ripening blackberry - Ripening tine July.
Would those ripen for me at the end of May too ?

Columbia Sunrise - they say this is their earliest ripening blackberry, 2 weeks earlier than any other.
They list the Ripening time - Late June - July.
Would those start to ripen for me Mid April ? (again based on difference in Logans).

Raspberry…

Everbearing…
Autum Britten - it states that they ripen early, before Heritage and Caroline.
Ripening time they state - Late Summer thru Fall…
But they also say Ripens 3-4 weeks before Heritage.
Not sure if they are talking about spring/summer crop or fall crop there. Possibly Fall ?

June Bearing
Latham - they call a Spring Bearing raspberry…
Latham Raspberry produces large, round, deep-red, well-textured, full-flavored fruits in Spring. The standard in Spring bearing raspberries.
Under Ripening time they list - June-July

Again for Logans they say July, but for me that is May 22.
If they are saying June for Latham… would that possibly be late April, or early May for me ?

Anyone in Tennessee or a Zone 7a State near me, growing any of these and can testify to the actual ripening dates ?

Thanks

TNHunter

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My understanding is that honeyberries don’t do particularly well in zone 7 to begin with, especially in full sun. I planted a bunch of Aurora and Tundra spring 2019 (they looked about 2 years old) and some of them gave fruit last year and more set fruit this year. I would have probably gotten even more fruit this year but apparently the rabbits thought that they should help me with pruning instead. I don’t plan to give them that opportunity again this year… but I digress.

I planted several more varieties spring 2020, but I haven’t had a chance to look at them to see if they set anything yet.

What varieties of honeyberries are you growing?

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@FarmGirl-Z6A —

When I purchased my Honeyberry… I got them from OGW… and they list them in their catalog by Early Blooming and Late Blooming…

Early Blooming to me, usually means hard frost takes your fruit most of the time… so I went with Late Blooming varieties when I made my selections…

Blue Pagoda and Blue Sea were the two I selected.

The words from their description of those… abundant crops, of large flavorful sweet, firm juicy fruit… and great crops of firm very large, sweet and flavorful fruit… had my hopes up.

Too bad, now 3 years later, not a single one to taste of.

I have heard others say that honeyberry will often beat strawberries at getting ripe. That was the hope… but it has not been realized — yet.

If someone was near by and wanted to come and get these two honeyberry bushes… I would gladly give them to them — and would replace them with either Raspberries, or Strawberries.

TNHunter

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Here’s a link to Berries Unlimited’s zone 7 recommendations. They are in zone 7 themselves. I have not ordered from them personally, but they have a good reputation here.

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Thanks @FarmGirl-Z6A — checked out their listings for honeyberries.

Noticed almost all of their recommended honeyberries are listed as being for Zone 2-7 or 3-7.

I am in 7a… and perhaps it is not so good to be on that edge of the zone range recommended.
I am on a ridge top too… perhaps in Zone 7 if you were in a creek or river bottom, lower elevation, with more shade, cooler nights… they might perform better.

If I give them a few more years, who knows, might get some here.

To me I expect more from a berry bush… blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, goumi berries all start producing nicely in year 1 or 2 here… same for strawberries.

Honeyberries, JostaBerries, Currants… have not meet expectations at all here in Zone 7a… living but not thriving and producing little to no fruit.

PS… one question asked on this thread was…

What are your first 3 fruits to get ripe yearly ?

Hoping I might hear about something I have not tried that might just work here ?

Thanks

TNHunter

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The PrimeArk blackberry line (45, Freedom, Traveler) produces a pretty early crop on the floricanes, usually in late May or early June. I second Earliglow as the earliest bearing strawb, altho the berries aren’t that big, but very tasty. I planted Seascape last year, they are still blooming altho a freeze last week slowed them a bit.

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I noticed flowers on my Freedom PrimeArk yesterday too. Maybe try those @TNHunter .
Oh, I just thought of my Yellow Wonder Alpine strawberries. They are small, but very good (so good) and are the first strawberries that ripen for me (I have a lot of different varieties, including Earliglow).

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Thanks for the recommendations…

Earliglow - on my list of strawberries to try next.

I have considered the PrimeArk Blackberries… and Subdood in Ky 6b… if you are getting those in May or Early June… they should be even a little earlier for me down here in TN 7a.

Mid May Blackberries would sure be nice. I will have to try some of those too.

One thing I worry about with them is my hot summers and early falls… The guy on youtube that tells about them, says they do not produce well at all if your summer/fall temps are above about 85-90 degrees, and mine often are.

I might just get a decent early crop with those, and it might be sort of hit or miss on the late summer - fall fruiting. I will have to try a few and see.

I have considered Alpine Strawberries too… but have not tried them yet. I think it was Alexandria - yes… that is the one that OGW has. Yellow Wonder - will add that to my list too.

Thanks

TNHunter

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I have traveler and freedom. Both are just now getting ready to flower. I’m not a black berry fan, but those things produce some giant berries.

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Prime ark freedom gave me berries mid May last year in 7b north Georgia. Huge berries and only ones to beat the swd fruit flys hear. One problem is canes keep growing and don’t harden well a freeze can mess them up. I will have few berries from them this year it’s too bad they are early, huge, and taste pretty good.