Could someone please explain to me in detail how seaberries should be pruned to induce fruiting? I’ve had a number of large plants (3-4 years old) that only made a couple of berries (I have two males). These plants were huge and pollination shouldn’t have been an issue. What gives?
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how are they planted. From what I read the pollen is wind and gravity broadcast which is why Male plants are taller.
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They’re about 4’ apart in a north to south facing row. Winds are primarily from southwest. I have 2 males spaced evenly between 12 females.
F F F M F F F F F F M F F F
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jxz spacing and gender distribution is fine. Not sure how you have huge plants after 3 or 4 years. A large seaberry plant would be 12 feet tall and 10 feet wide.
Did you actually observe that the female and male blooms occurred at the same time in previous years?
Commercial seaberry pruning is done at harvest time where whole fruited branches are removed for various fruit removal methods. But for the home grower, I found that major branch pruning induced new growth with weak attachments. Pruning to limit height worked well. I let the males grow unless they got in the way or interfered with adjacent female growth.
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Thanks for the tip, I’ll give it a try. No, I didn’t observe when they bloomed. But I did have a couple of berries on the plant, <10, which showed me it IS pollinating, but a couple of berries is nothing like the branches being covered like in all of the photos.
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In c. 1992 I planted 10 unsexed seedling seaberries and they grew 3 feet tall; in 3 years I only had a handful of berries. You really need to observe next year’s bloom (March-April) before drawing conclusions. Did you plant these, described as young and huge, in very fertile soil or soil that was then fertilized? Seaberry does well in poor soil. I don’t know if rich soil produces growth at the expense of blooming for these plants.
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my 3 yr old russian orange set berries for the 1st time this year. didnt even notice that it had bloomed. this plant grows like crazy here. I’ve cut a doz. spouts coming up on the lawn just this summer. i intentionally planted it on a gravelly poor slope in the yard and it flourished w/ nothing but mulch!
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Anyone have some pictures? The seaberries I recently planted http://www.growingfruit.org/t/sea-buckthorn-juice/17185/40 are greening up slowly but look great considering they were end of the season close outs left in the cooler.
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I see you are growing them in buckets, somehing I consider doing since oir soil gets very soggy in spring and winter (I had garlic die of rot in winter before spring time). Do you have any experience growing seaberries in containers? I mnow their root system is shallow and they spread their roots up to 15 around the trunk, so I am undecided.
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No experience growing them in containers. I chose to grow them in containers so I could control watering them easier during this drought.
Seaberry plants that I have seen or grown that have significant berry crops are too large for a 5-gallon bucket.
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I was wondering which varieties to get, they are so many on One Green World! I want the best fresh eating sweetest varieties, that would be cold-hardy in the Adirondacks, NY.
P.S.: if they are too tart for some peeps, try them with miracle fruit (well guess most peeps dont grow miracle fruit plants, so you can get the dried fruit pills online). I get them from freezer section from the Russian Supermarket (along with black currants) in Philly, and while I enjoy them, some peeps do not but did like the tartness which Miracle Fruit’s miraculous tongue-sweetening properties can fix 
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What shape does the russian orange take? If i remember right its the variety that ogw was saying would stay in bush form.
its a narrow bush about 6ft.x 4ft.
It is gonna be my 3rd time this year trying to grow seabuckthorn. Last 2 times, I transplanted them in spring and they died within a couple of days/weeks. First location: too dry, too sunny. Second=too shady??? I don’t know. I am gonna try one more time. I will plant it in a different location, half sun kind of situation, with a lot of wood mulch. The female variety I ordered is Harvest Moon. We’ll see! I love the berries myself. I like them in smoothies, yogurts, pastries… I find they taste like oily oranges. Here is what I buy for 8,99$ !! Expensive!
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My experiences with seaberry is that they like lots of sun and a good supply of water. Still we’ve had maybe a 50% take rate with them. The ones near the garden (where they can steal water from the garden) grow like weeds here in zone 5a. Growth is far slower elsewhere where the water supply is less constant.
Once I had some plants which took, I just dug up some of the volunteers they sprout and transplanted them elsewhere. Have had pretty good luck doing that.
These plants do well in poor, gritty soil.
Jessica, what was the source of your plants: Nursery stock, seedlings, cuttings?
They were cultivars (not seedlings), but I can’t remember which ones. Sent by mail, bare roots. Mail is my only solution, as I am looking for something specific; prolific, good tasting, thornless (or almost thornless).
I do not believe there is a such thing as to much sun with seaberries. even shade from upper limbs will kill lower ones. Soil that it to nice and fertile could be a problem.
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Any updates? I’ve lost them in the past, but am trying again with a temp. potted Star Of Altai.
It looked miserable for months until a deer pruned it. Now it’s taking off.
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