I think they taste about like grapefruit. Definitely not blueberries. They are worth planting for some variety and the health benefits. They don’t seem to be heavy producers, so you won’t get enough to tire of them.
3 Likes
This is exactly my way of doing things. 
Having full garden, small orchard, berry bushes, and also flower bed and roses on the lot of 0.15 acre that also includes house, two sheds and parking for 3 cars is not easy! I am moving my decorative perennials to my neighbors:slight_smile:. And every time I fit in another tree I decide - that is it… No more! Until I figure out that let’s say persimmon can grow here too. 
9 Likes
Mine to me taste like a raspberry-blueberry, both awesome, and so are good tasting honeyberries.
1 Like
The honeyberries are tart, the best have some sweetness in them, the worst ones have bitterness, because the wild honeyberries are very bitter. Last summer I was in Russia in June and my mother has several bushes of honeyberries, they propagated over years in the garden. They were quite plentiful and I got tired of them. I sprinkled sugar on top and then they were quite agreeable with me . They are valuable as the first berries of the season and not so bad in jams and compots. Also many black currants or blackberries have quite sour taste, but still are very popular, you would probably like honeyberries if you like those.
5 Likes
Information definitely is sparse.
I haven’t tasted many honeyberries but they can taste really good when fully ripened. I got several little plants after tasting an excellent tasting Cinderella honeyberry at a nursery. It wasn’t bitter or sour. Definitely need to let them hang long after they change color.
Air layering should work well. I was able to root a cutting and ground layer a branch.
I’m thinking the later ripening varieties would probably work best this far south (zone 6) but it’s just a guess.
What method did you use? Dormant cutting? Asking as I can grab some right now and try!
From researching I would agree. More cultivars are coming out all the time. Berriesunlimited has about 40 cultivars for sale. I heard you get micro plants, but hey, lot’s of selection, They pretty much all have the same description. I did notice in their multiple plants offers, a group for fresh eating, jam, muffins, and wine. So that should help choose at least their cultivars. I want more, but I’m going to wait, my plate is full and running off the sides.
Proven winners is now offering 8 cultivars. 4 are Japanese. The new Japanese plants are dwarf, Honey Bunch and Sugar Pie, probably good for container culture. No doubt these are sweet ones with those names!
Solo and Maxie by Proven Winners are Maxine Thompson releases. No doubt, the other two probably are also. Her Haskaps, many of them are now approaching 10 years of trials. Some have a brix of 15. Most are around 13.
2 Likes
I propagate them by mist or fog,either cuttings taken dormant or a little hardened off,when they are growing. Brady
1 Like
Yeah that’s a great method, the best really. One day I will have to make a set up.
Air layering tough is so easy, once done, you just wait. I saw a method for blueberries I’m going to try.
After PW branded goji as Sweet Lifeberry, I’m suspicious of any fruit marketing from them…
2 Likes
It sure does seem like a lot of these non-mainstream fruits turn out to be disappointing. I remember the hype of Goji berries. A lot of people planted them and I’ve never heard a single person say they liked them enough to continue growing them. Fruits like Goji, Aronia, gooseberries, Honeyberries, service berries, etc have a wonderful presence in fruit catalogs but none of them have been able to out perform raspberries, blackberries, grapes, etc in the mainstream market. I for one have limited space and if these unusual edibles don’t bring their A game I would rather have a fruit that I love like blackberries. Now if I had a huge farm and plenty of room to test these things out I’d undeniably do it. But there have been so many reports saying Goji berries suck that I’m not going to bother.
8 Likes
I myself like the company, I have bought some exceptional ornamental plants from them. Very impressive Rose of Sharon plants. And others too. It appears the dwarf haskaps just released are sweeter than Solo and Maxie which they describe as Sweet-Tart.
PW also sells the honeyberries developed in the Czech Republic, as do many nurseries. One they describe as the sweetest, Sugar Mountain Blue.
Everybody is different. I myself put honeyberries above blackberries. Marionberry maybe can compete, but most do not from my very limited experience with honeyberries. I grow over 15 different blackberries, I know them, and I like honeyberries more, much more. Maybe even more than blueberries, they have a much richer taste.
I’m not the best judge though as I love all that fruit you mentioned. I never tried Goji, although I do know many are not good, some are excellent. In China it is a mainstream fruit.Gooseberries rock, and I like serviceberries too!
I have about 20 raspberry cultivars, and I do like them better, but I like finding new and unusual tastes. For example I will always grow the rest of my life, Magnolia berries, they are completely inedible fresh. As a tea, I died and went to heaven. About as good infused in vodka too! I was drinking my magnolia berry infused vodka in pink lemonade, and thinking nobody else in the world probably even has, let alone drinking magnolia berry infused vodka.
12 Likes
More like taste like poison! Seriously, probably the only thing besides spoiled milk that I spat out.
5 Likes
Drew,
I planted Solo, Maxie, and Sugar Mt. Blue all from Honeyberry, U.S.A. last year, so maybe I will have a comparison report in a year or two. The few I tasted of Aurora were pretty good. A blue belle or berry blue (not sure which was which) was disagreeable–very astringent. I hope to transplant some of them to a different location to see if they do better there.
2 Likes
I like tart, but astringent stuff I too cannot handle. I heard you say that, thanks for that report!
1 Like
I don’t think I’d be a good resource for rooting advice. I’ve only tried the one time to root cuttings and only have the one plant out of three or four cuttings.
I think I direct potted the dormant wood though.
I have a feeling that you’d have a stronger plant that would grow faster with an air layer.
1 Like
Very interesting indeed. Sounds like you have a good sample size and are able to make a true opinion of them.
Well that’s the thing, Dave, no, I do need to try more. I should have said a potential to be better than blackberries even blueberries. I did taste a depth of flavor. I like red currants, but they really have no depth of flavor, it’s there, flat, one taste. What I mean by depth is the flavor has a first flavor, maybe a 2nd, then a finish, like a fine wine. An example I’ll give is the pineberry, or white strawberries. At first you get a citric pineapple taste that finishes with a traditional strawberry flavor. So it has depth, or is complex, rich Even jam keeps this taste. Honeyberries appear to be like that to me, Sweet, blueberry, raspberry flavors,and a tart finish. I tasted potential totally. But sometimes first impressions are wrong.
3 Likes
I’ve had Honeyberries for three seasons now and really haven’t made up my mind yet. Last year I put up some bird netting and finally got a few berries for ME! I probably picked them a little early but as I’m not at my orchard all the time so I have to take what I can get. I have Blue Bird, Berry Blue and Blue Moon. Maybe this year they will come on strong and give me enough to try Jams, Fresh etc. I put some in flap jacks and they were pretty tart. As my bushes get a little bigger I hope they produce larger quantities.
Agree. They look like elongated blueberries but the ones I’ve tried don’t taste like blueberries.
1 Like
On the Honeyberry USA site they list the new Boreal Beauty haskap at 16.9 brix. I already have it on order, so am excited about it now.
3 Likes