Does anyone know of any improved cultivars of salal? It is quite a good fruit in the wild. I’m no expert, but there are some pretty amazing fruit that started from a much worse fruit than the beginning point these would start at so it seems to me like there would be potential. Maybe they are too consistent and not enough unique traits? I know there is a cross of g. Shallon and g. Mucronata called Wisley Pearl, but i don’t think it is a big improvement.
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Hi! Common name please.
The common name is “salal” – it was a major food source for indigenous peoples of the PNW pre-colonization. Here’s an article about it:
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/salal/
And how OGW describes it:
I don’t know of anyone working on improving it, but it does seem like a good candidate. I’ve noticed significant differences in fruit quality when foraging on hikes in the region. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are patches of better quality fruit in areas where Salish peoples maintained them. My understanding is they would do essentially controlled burns and then spread salal into the burn scars, where it often dominates other understory plants naturally.
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It’s something I’d heard about in the Pacific Northwest, and had wanted to try for years. When we moved to our place in the forest in 2010, I found it growing wild at the edges of the clearing. I agree that they are pretty good, if a little insipid. But quite palatable.
@SnacksFromPlants as far as breeding for improved selections based on the starting quality, I’ve found that I prefer the wild salal to the wild black raspberries here, and clearly black raspberries can be very good.
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I don’t know if it’s plant genetics or different soil, but I’ve found some areas with almost none of the insipidness, and others where it’s very strong (almost flavorless entirely). I’ve never collected seeds from superior wild specimens, but now that we bought a house that’s definitely something I intend to do on hikes this year. I think they taste best on the margins of older-growth forests, but that might be just a coincidence.
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@murky @swincher
I’ve found much variability in the fruit quality. I’ve had some that I would put up against blueberries and some that were almost flavorless. I guess that is what caused me to ask the question. I am planning on adding quite a few as an understory in my food forest and thought if there are improved cultivars, I’d rather have those.
I’ve thought the same thing about thimble berries. They have a nice flavor but not much flesh. If a breeder worked on getting more juicy flesh they would be a winner. Also, they are super early. The only thing that beats them to ripen on my property is the salmon berry.
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There are some good sized ones in Schmitz Park in West Seattle, but actually they are pretty bland compared to the smaller ones I’ve seen elsewhere. Also, some very tasty osoberry bushes there, another native food forest plant I’m planning to collect since they are less astringent than ones I’ve had in other locations. They are sweet with good flesh-to seed ratio, and only an aftertaste of cucumber that’s kinda refreshing rather than overpowering like some specimens.
In fact I’ve found almost every native berry species we have in that park, though not all are good quality because the old growth forest isn’t sunny enough in many areas.
Any improved seed collection ever done? I’m looking to get some salal bushes this dormant season.
This summer has been too hot and dry for the salal in my neighborhood at least, the berries have been shriveled and less tasty than usual. But they are still flowering and setting fruit currently, so if we ever get any rain there might be a chance for a late summer crop. But it’ll probably have to wait until next year for me at least. The (invasive) Himalayan blackberries don’t seem to mind the weather, though, I’ve been collecting a quart every time I go for a walk to the park.
Dad used to make a pretty good blackberry wine with himalayan berries from under the power lines in Bellevue. Those berrys cover every square foot of wild sunny space in the Seattle area!
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Now that’s an interesting idea! We just use them for crumbles and tarts generally (or eat out of hand). Here was my latest haul a couple days ago from 10 minutes of picking at a patch along the fence at a nearby school:
Could probably fill a 5 gallon bucket at that patch alone, it’s like this for ~20 yards along the alleyway:
But you pay the price in scratches.
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We have lots (of Himalayan blackberries) on our property but they seem to be generally ruined by spotted wing drosophila the last many years now.
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I’m interested in some selection. They’re not the easiest to clonally propagate since they don’t like being divided (though it is possible). As far as I can tell, most commercial sources propagate it via seed.
I have one specimen I selected out of a large batch of seedlings which has a notably more upright growth habit instead of the more arching structure of most stems. I put it in ground last year and am very interested to see how tall it would get. A consistently tall form of the species would be lovely where low hedges are needed.
There was a very deep pink flowered form growing among a typical pale pink flowered colony in a parking lot planting about 10 minutes from where I live. I had intended to try collecting seeds from it to see if any would grow out with such good color (digging a piece from the original would be impractical with low survival probability anyway). Unfortunately, landscapers mowed it to the ground and there has subsequently been very little regrowth. Fingers crossed that what did survive will be the deep pink flowered form… 
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I just want to clarify. I was talking about the blackberries regarding the swd. I don’t know if they are getting in the salal. I haven’t picked any the last few years.
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Personally, I’ve not seen any pest pressure on salal fruit. The biggest trick for me has been just figuring out the right time to harvest. They turn purple before they taste fully ripe (in my opinion), but if left too long the flesh will secretly decay away leaving the skins behind like little hollow balloons.
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Just adding a comment. I have picked wild salal from California, Oregon, and Washington. It is highly variable, with some locations having a taste similar to blueberries or huckleberries and others having a very unique sweet cinnamon/nutmeg like taste. We made jam out of some potent nutmeg tasting berries this summer and it was excellent.
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Wish the variations could be dug and propagated and see if it’s variety difference or growing location.
I would like to try growing salal, but It’s evergreen which makes iffy on if it can take the cold here.
Does it require acidic soil? Or can it be grown in neutral ph soil?
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I have some seeds that I will be attempting to sprout at the end of the month. They are stratifying right now. Hoping I can get at least 2-4 to survive and fruit for a couple generations and see if they climatize at all. I am also attempting the same thing with wintergreen and New Zealand mountain snowberry, which are both in the same family.
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These things seems very forgiving (as long as you can get them past the establishment phase). I’ve got them growing in pure clay soil and full sun in one spot, wet soil with a lot of organic matter and shade in another spot, rock and sand under an overhang that prevents rain from watering it in another spot, growing on rotten cedar tree trunk in another spot…
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I just take terminal end cuttings and jam them into the green belt bank during winter. They always survive and grow. Do the same thing with wild honey berries ( they almost always grow side by side here) in the wild(ish) urban green belts and flood plains the surround the drainages of our abundant small creeks. I have yet to find an old salal patch not also mixed w honeyberries along the creeks that drain into lake Washington.
Almost never in full sun. In the understory of the shade always, interestingly.
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