Any updates about how these plants are doing for you now?
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Hey Farmgirl. I didn’t get the ones mentioned in my original post (the “Yezberries” Solo and Maxie. But I did get a few varieties of honeyberries. Others here know far more than I do about them (@Drew51 is knowledgeable) .
Anyway, my experience with them here in zone 6b/7a in Tennessee has been mixed. They really struggle in the heat of summer, They barely grow at all from mid-June to September. In fact, I always think they are going to die and sometimes they have. This is means that mine have been fairly slow growers overall…they grow quickly in spring and somewhat in the fall, but the lack of growth during summer heat has meant overall annual growth has been slower than what northern growers say they get.
The taste varies quite a bit and all of mine are pretty sour, but not so much I don’t like them- I do. To me they taste a lot like a sour blueberry . Without question my favorite thing about the honeyberries that I have is how early they come in. They are my very first taste of fresh fruit for the year, and for a fruit lover like me that is a very big deal.
Anyway, Honeryberries have come a long way in the last 3 years and others know a lot more than me and perhaps some of them will offer better information, but hopefully this helped a little.
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I had good first year luck with plants from Honeyberry USA. (Did have Honeybee variety die for unknown reason though.)
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Struggles in Zone 6/7 eh. Let’s make it worse and try zone 7/8 in Texas!
I’ve ordered Boreal Beauty, Strawberry Sensation and Keiko for planting along the coldest side of my house (aka the side that gets the “Northers”). It gets two hours of morning sunlight.
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Keep us posted. But if
you keep it in part shade in hot of the day, you’ll probably succeed.
It may look ugly during the 90+ temps…but new leaves do a second round in the fall.
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I just ordered strawberry, solo and keiko. Thinking a fall planting can keep them alive long enough to maybe get a few fruit in spring and I’ll put them under my live oak which stays cool in summer but unfortunately also warmer in the winter, the microclimate giveth and taketh away haha oh well fingers crossed
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Yep, those folks are good people. Since they have trialed so many and only sell 15 or so varieties…I’d like to see more offerings.
But, Tana is one of the late ones I’ve added recently to my collection.
9A is maybe pushing it…keep us posted on the progress of your honeyberries on the Atlantic Ocean.
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They are in full shade so it’s an experiment to say the least
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If you get enough chill hours, I suspect you’ll be OK in the shade.
They haven’t fully broke dormancy yet but I for sure haven’t gotten much chill hours. Also they are under a huge live oak and between the chicken coop and a fence so while it’s the coolest part of yard during the summer, it’s likely the warmest during the winter. They arrived dormant from honeyberriesusa and other than one of them putting out 4 blossoms (which are now 2 berries) the other two are dormant with some slight bud swell. I’ll be ok if they don’t thrive but if I can just eat a couple berries I can scratch them off the bucket list. Haha I try to grow about one of everything on this tiny lot and slowly cull things that we don’t love or don’t produce well
Oh, I think your ‘experiment’ is good. But, give them at least a second year…recently planted stuff can be confused and first year performance may not be typical.
(Of course, they do have to survive the first year for there to be a second!)
oh, did you just get them this past fall? They may have gotten chill hours in Minnesota before they sent them to you?
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Yep exactly, got them delivered 10/20/23 so this first year won’t be super indicative however as you said they need to survive. Same experiment with ribes in the same vicinity. Had some die last summer in full sun, but also didn’t have them on irrigation so they could have died from any number of factors.
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Seems like you have picked the right spot.
Give us some feedback…after you get a crop of fruit.
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Fruit. Sounds nice.