what are your favorite varieties for mead so far?
Hard to say quite yet. The Russian varieties in general seem superior to the japanese ones in my opinion, perhaps due to their inherent inclination to be quite tart- but again, I want more time and resources to pilot before making any rash conclusions. Wojtek shows a lot of potential; it has something unique to it on the nose that is very appealing when compared to other varietals. Quite pretty; elegant. Very tart however. Honeybee has good potential as a structure-builder due to its higher-than-normal bitterness/tannin.
I’m very interested in working with some of the newer varieties like strawberry sensation, or the UofS beauty/beast/blizzard, etc. More to come in 2020 when I have greater options available.
1 Like
Send me an IM, we might be able to work out a trade, sounds like you have varieties I dont have, and vice versa…
I’m not growing those varieties, yet, but I am laying the groundwork for what cultivars we are going to add to the orchard in the future. I’d like to keep the grower I’ve been partnering with confidential, but I can highly recommend Logie from lovehoneyberry.com for helping you source anything you might be interested in.
1 Like
Did you ever find any additional information about the varieties that you were questioning being under US patent? I have looked this up, even on the US patent website, and can’t find a patent for some of the varieties that I am interested in. I want to honor legal US patents, but I don’t feel compelled to honor imaginary ones (claims that there is a patent when none actually exists) or patents from another country in which we have no legal requirement to honor.
Also, the nurseries that I usually deal with list the patent number with the product that they are selling, if the plant is under patent. I noticed that several varieties have patent numbers listed on the honeyberryUSA site, while others do not. The ones that don’t, I have been unable to find a patent on them.
3 Likes
Beauty is a nice sized chunk of a berry…but it hangs a long time looking as if it is ripe and it is not…let it be. Blizzard is the best off the bush berry I have had…a huge flattened diamond shape with rounded corners if that makes any sense… Boreal Beast is also nice off the bush…but a little harder to grow and to get going than some of the others. Another favorite of mine is Indigo Gem…though it is small in size it has, like the others I mentioned a more approachable flavour. I have probably 300 plants and at least 15 varieties. Wojtec deserves more notice than it gets…although it is a spreading droopy untidy mess of a plant , it is vigorous, highly productive and if left to ripen has a nice flavour. Berry Blue and Honeybee are among some of the “pollinators”…they have poor flavour and it really isn’t necessary to use these as there are always other, better tasting fruit that you can find to pollinate your favorite varieties…just have to hunt around. Haskaps , like other fruit, but to a much greater degree have such a range of esters that contribute to varying flavours from plum to apple to strawberry to tea leaf…at least these are the flavours I detect most in them…yes the taste does sometimes hint at raspberries…but raspberries have a distinct flavour that I have not found is common or prominent in haskaps…however apple and strawberry notes do come out…apple more so when fresh…strawberry when haskaps are made into jam. Which brings me to another point. If you are making jam (highly recommended but be sure to use pectin without added acidifying agents…the berries are tart enough they definitely don’t need acidifiers to bring out flavour),don’t worry too much about what varieties you have…ones that are not very appealing from the bush lend their own to the mix…(mix the varieties all together) in jam. Those who say they taste like blueberry I think are tasting with their eyes…blueberries have a , though subtle, very distinct flavour that I don’t find at all in haskaps. …apple yes, plum yes, …strawberry , tea leaf and other vague fruity essences. Though I have not tried it, I am certain they would also make a good wine.
10 Likes
Go ahead with full sun just protect the roots with some hardwood chips to keep roots cool.I was very surprised that mine which started out on black plastic ( to keep our terrible perennial weeds down) were ok through the summer where our summers get to 35 Celcius often for several days at a time…they don’t like that of course, but they were ok as long as I threw some wood chips around the base of the plants to keep roots cool…and after they finish producing…they look terrible…bronzing of leaves , loosing leaves, dried leaves, mildew…don’t worry , they are not dead…they do that in the summer heat.as long as they don’t dry out they are ok. I think sometimes the growing zones can be confusing…remember it is indicating what your winter low temperature is. Canada is not a block of ice…even the north (of Canada)gets quite hot in the summer…so these plants are not unused to some sun and heat…I wouldn’t try them in Arizona or Texas but DC area should do fine…just keep the roots cool in the summer heat.
4 Likes
keep roots cool with wood chip mulch
2 Likes
I feel they definitely have that first tart bite to them similar to a good fresh blueberry with alot of other tastes after the first. Sadly i don’t think i let them ripen enough as I haven’t taken to covering mine yet and the birds, so im always lucky for the fruit I get. I try to go with the later blooming varieties as they can wake up early here and while they take 90-100 degree days here just fine. The two honeyberries that have died on me both died on the first 90+ degree early spring warm up and it happened on two separate years and most of the honeyberries seemed stressed by the first quick warm up.
1 Like
Great post! That’s exactly the type of information I like to find when deciding on varieties to get. Thank you!
2 Likes
You know that depends on the blueberry. I have some that are extremely sweet, no tartness at all. Pink Popcorn has no acid at all, Spartan and Toro are very sweet with a touch of tartness some years, and zero others.
1 Like
What varieties are you growing? Mine have the color and texture of blueberries but not the taste.
1 Like
For those who have used both plastic and mulch, which works better, I planted several hundred last fall and Im debating putting plastic over them or trying to mulch. The ones I planted last spring with no mulch or plastic were overrun by weeds, but they did grow some and most survived. Im thinking eventually they might be able to compete with weed pressure? Whats your experience with this? I dont have a riding mower yet but once I do, I should be able to knock the weeds down better manually than I did this past year. I tried to keep them in check with a weed wacker, but thats a lot of work and they did get away from me after a while!
I use google patent search to try to find patented plants. If you search for honeyberry haskap and the name of the variety you should find something if its patented, I know Maxine has some patented varieties. Ive seen several producers put PP on their varieties, but I think thats just used as a deterrent and often not the case. If someone has a variety thats been PP for a few years, likely they arent willing to spend the money to get the patent or they are just lying, thats a theory and I dont have any evidence of this, and Im not sure how to research whos Patent Pendings are legit or not and Im not sure what the law is as far as cloning PP plants. Im willing to destroy those I have copied if they become patented after I have them in the ground. US doesnt recognize ‘plant breeders rights’ that many countries have, including canada. I have kept track of how many U of S plants Ive cloned over the years and plan to send a ‘donation’ to them eventually to cover the royalties as paid by most propagators… They have what I think is the best breeding program and it benefits us to support them as long as they keep it going.
2 Likes
Yes they do have a great program. The dwarf cherries are great. I got enough this year to make a few dishes and such. Everybody raved about them. Tough trees too! I was gifted a Wowza and I ran it over with the lawn mower! Was I pissed! I have so many plants in my backyard my vision was blocked, and it was a new planting I forgot about. Anyway it grew back a little, it didn’t die. I lost a year, but still have the plant! So I have Carmine, Juliet, and Wowza which is enough for lot’s and lot’s of cherries!
2 Likes
mine look like that after fruiting also and we have very cool summers. i think they are such a early fruiting plant that they start to shut down well before it gets cold out. when i first started growing them, i thought i had a soil deficiency. i use lots of wood chips around all my trees and plants. the more the better!
It should be fine if it was established and growing. I run over my carmine jewel suckers all the time and they come right back… Sets them back a bit, but it should survive and catch up next summer. Neighbor also ran over some of my carmine seedlings out on my land this summer with his brushhog, they all started growing again too.
3 Likes
It was only in the ground a few weeks, maybe a month? When I did it, so I thought I may have killed it. I think it will make it, but we will see? I should get my first decent crop of Juliet next season.
Back to honeyberries I added the Boreal series this year. Two look great one is iffy (forget which? Not here, at my cottage). I should get some fruit next year, but too small to protect so may not get a taste. I would protect but my nets are in high demand. I need more!
3 Likes
I’m thinking of adding the Boreal series also. i have 1 carmine jewel, 2 juliet, 1 romeo, 1 lutowaka rose and i montmorency cherry. all are growing well and the juliet and romeo put out a few cherries but the birds got them before half ripe. once they are in full production ill be up to my ears in cherries!
1 Like
Speaking of cherries, I had pretty good luck rooting romeo cherry this fall, got 11 to root, not sure how many cuttings I took, still prolly only 50% or so success. Funny thing is all my juliet I took at the exact same time, treated exactly the same and in the same container even died… Guessing this might have to do with mother plant nutrition or something, possibly just genetics, hard to say. Also I took some Bali cherry cuttings for the first time and I got 3 out of maybe 10 to root. They are still indoors under lights right now.
4 Likes