Honeyberryusa order questions

Drew,
I’ve seen pictures of your raised beds and they were very nice. I use tires in the same way your talking about and its very effective. How good is the rubber for me? Well I guess thar s a question I don’t need to worry about today.

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In the UK they use them that way and for potatoes too! I had some tires, but ended up taking them to Discount Tire, and they threw them away for free!
I would not worry about the rubber, it breaks down very slowly. Plus real rubber is just tree bark! And if oil based, so is most everything we use. Glasses, pots, you name it, it’s plastic, so I see no more danger than anything else we have all around us. Yes tires would work very well, good job!

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Clark,
I don’t understand your comment about Service Berries being zone 5 or 6 max? Brady

Bradybb,
I had a lot of problems growing them because the summers get to hot here for them. So zone 5 or 6 is said to be about the hottest they can take. I gave Gene Redlin a call at Byron Nursery and he sent me out some I could grow that do well here. They definitely like colder areas much better. In this area we call them June berries because they ripen in June but they are also known as service berries, shadblows, Saskatoons etc.

Okay thanks.It’d be nice to have a heat zone rating for plants and not only cold limits.
Right now,I’m growing Northline,which has produced a few fruit the last two years and a no name Alnifolia,which has more of a small tree shape.
I recently put in an order to the ARS-GRIN in Corvallis,OR for a few scions. Brady

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I’m out of room here, and I had no luck growing them at my cottage. So I’m going to add the Smokey cultivar and grow in a container. I can fit that somewhere. The cultivar Northline only grows to 5 to 7 feet, so should do OK in a container. Smokey is another awesome one, and for looks Autumn Brilliance is spectacular, although the berries are rather bland from reports I have read. The best tasting ones I have discovered from research are Northline and Smokey. Others are probably good too, but numerous reports about these two. I think I will try Smokey as it is touted as the best tasting. In general these tend to be bland.

The ones we grow are an unnamed cultivar that are a little bigger than a big pea. Very very tasty like a blueberry yet with no sour and they have a very slight almond taste.

I think there is better upside potential with Honeyberries. They start ripening with or a bit before the first strawberries for me, which is a big factor in their appeal. Mine haven’t grown very quickly, but I’ve got a few handfuls from them this past spring. Tart, but good for late May.

Jubeberries haven’t produced well at all for me and the few I’ve had weren’t impressive tasting (bland blueberry). They also got some sort of rust which damaged the berries. I’ve given up on them and re-allocated the space.

Smoky for me wasn’t that great,but I really like Northline,especially when left to ripen in the hot sun.
I tried some berries from an Autumn Brilliance that was for sale at a Home Depot.They had a mild Apple taste.This one is definitely a tree. Brady

The first few times I had honeyberries, I didn’t really care for the flavor, although my mom liked them. It is only when I learned to let them hang for 2-3 weeks after they reached full color that I began to like them eaten out of hand. Although for fresh eating I prefer raspberries which are ripe at the same time for me. The berries of Japanese origin bloom and ripen later. They are better adapted to our climate, but not so early like the Russian ones. Maybe the Russian ones don’t taste as good.

They make really excellent, full-flavored, and delicious jam. One of our favorites, and much better looking and tasting than blueberry in my opinion. I’m really looking forward to getting a better yield this year now that the plants are getting a little bigger.

Brady, OK well i was going to get Northline at first, I have yet to order, so I’ll switch it back to Northline. That one is smaller too, so makes more sense for a container. I thought of Autumn Brilliance for an ornamental, I may pick that up for that reason one day.

I have three honeyberry bushes but they are at my cottage and barely growing. I thought of moving them here, but I’m so out of room!

Cityman,
You’re not that far from me, and even farther south… I wouldn’t even bother with northern highbush blueberries where you are… Rabbiteyes will be WAY more productive and may be less finicky about soil pH/type… Southern highbush, probably as well, but mine are all still young enough that the jury is still out on them for me. But after having NHBs for 10 years or so before the rabbiteyes my dad gave me kicked in…there’s no way I’d go back to the poverty-level production of NHBs - especially as much as my kids liked to eat them (youngest son is a threat to eat a gallon of blueberries in one day!)

The smaller bush-type juneberry/serviceberry/saskatoons are not particularly fond of our heat and humidity, and cedar-serviceberry rust can be a problem. I’ve grown - and still have - 6-10 named selections of A.alnifolia/stolonifera; most have struggled, but some cheap (like $1 ea) little row-run seedlings of Timm & Success that I bought 20 years ago have been the best of that group. Seems like the folks at Hidden Springs, in Cookeville, have been growing and selling Regent for years… but it’s been a poor producer for me…not sure I’ve ever gotten a berry off of mine.
Larger A.x grandiflora types have been very productive here, and have great flavor - if I can beat the birds to them!

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Has anybody here tasted a honeyberry/haskap? Do they actually taste like blueberries?

My daughter has been bugging me to plant blueberries, but I’m not sure I want to deal with keeping the soil acid. Honeyberries or juneberries might be a good alternative.

My first impression when tasting them was,they were sour.Then the next year I detected a deeper flavor,not really honey,but less tart.Now I like them.
But,they should probably not be compared to Blueberries in taste,which are much sweeter.
Juneberries will be closer to them than Honeyberries.Depending which variety,they can have a berry to an Apple flavor. Brady

They have their own unique flavor. Sort of mildly sweet with nice texture. I’d say well worth growing.

OK, that’s it I’m going to have to order more and fit them around here somewhere!