What's the verdict on Honeyberries...are they tasty?

Would honey berries be grown as a stand alone small shrub like blueberries or would they grow more like blackberries? Also are they self fertile? I could probably squeeze one in but would rather now have to plant oodles of them

They are not self fertile. I think the growing habit is more like gooseberries and currents. Shoots produce for a few years and renew from the base.

I’ve had Haskap flower buds and even fruitlets survive into the 20’s a few times, but I did have some flowers get zapped this year. Kamchatka flowered in early March (maybe even late Feb), which is crazy early for NE Ohio. We then got down into the teens a few times. I think the flowers survived the first dip but the second one got them. It still put out a few flowers later. Other varieties bloomed later and seem all right. I like them and agree with the tart blueberry comparison. I’ve tried a handful each of the past few years and I like them more than store bought blueberries but not as much as the best home grown blueberries. This year I’m going to net them in hopes of letting them get really ripe. If I can find my refractometer I wll give some results.

Nobody I know has tasted the Sweet plus category, which are the worst for cooking for sure. I have two plants coming that are rated SWeet Plus, so maybe next year I may get a few. All the others have some tartness, which i myself love, I also eat red currants fresh, so not the person to ask.

“20 pounds” - I want to see this!

I agree with Antmary. I have read allmost everything in russian sources (including forums). So I trust personal experience, not commercials.

Aurora is by far the largest. Tundra and Borealis were similar in size. Taste test with my wife: For fresh eating Aurora won hands done. Borealis perhaps had a slight edge over Tundra. Measuring Brix Aurora (17, 14), Tundra (9, 9.8, 11.8), Borealis (12, 12, 11.2) so you can see why Aurora was more pleasant. In the end we ate the Aurora’s fresh and I made a compote with the other 2 by mixing 1 part berries to 0.5 part sugar by weight and it was nice and tasty and acidic.

I am planting Boreal Beauty and Blizzerd this spring.

See:
http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

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Seeing how big my 2nd leaf plant is, I can see 20 pounds easy. Blueberries will yield as much too. I never had a 2nd leaf blueberry this big.

I am new to this thread so I browsed through it and may have missued this.

Can cuttings be rooted easily?

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I successfully rooted dormant cuttings this spring without any special treatment (other than a dip in rooting hormone).

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Yeah it looks like cuttings root easily. Or at least work! I have an air layer on a honeyberry now. Air layers are nice because you can do them during the growing season. On figs it takes only 5 weeks to make a plant, or so I have been told, funny as today it’s 5 weeks for a few of my fig air layers. I cut my hand badly though, so I’m not messing with them until it heals. I don’t want to be digging in dirt at the moment (planting out air layer).

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Yes!
The most effective method of propagation of honeyberry is with green cuttings. Take the cuttings now (when the first fruits become blue). They need to be covered for example with plastic bottles and sprayed often with water. And away from direct sunlight.

Hmmmm, all I have to do now is find someone close to me that has honey berries that I can get cuttings from.

There might be some dormant wood trading going on next winter/early spring. Ive had best luck rooting cuttings taken right after fruit harvest, when the new growth is starting to get slightly woody. I havent tried taking cuttings earlier than that, but it worked better than my dormant cuttings did that I tried this spring. Although my dormant cuttings did root, it was probably less than 50%, where the ones I took last summer semi-hardwood had closer to 80% success this spring when they started growing.

Scott and I can take care of you no problem.
I’m excited about the Sweet Plus types, Scott will have one, and I’ll have 2.
I have 4th leaf plants at my cottage. I have four 2nd leaf here at home. They thrive in half a day of sun,

Oops make that 5 I forgot about Brady’s plant first leaf, he got it from Dr Thompson, an unnamed cultivar. I’m thinking Brady Blue! And 2 of the Sweet plus coming in a week. I doubt they will be big, may have to wait for them to grow out some.
What would be nice if someone picked up the other Sweet Plus so all of us can score them too.
Honey Delight
Zojka (AKA Purple Splendor or Vicky) I cannot find this one anywhere.
Honey Joy

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What kind of soil are you using in your container honeyberries? Mine always seem to get pissed when I try to keep them in containers. Stick them in the ground and they do fine… I wonder if they are nute sensitive or something?

My standard mix 3 parts pine bark fines, 1 part pro-mix general purpose potting soil (instead of pete, it’s pH balanced, mix is mostly peat and perlite) and 1 part composted manure, bagged, and 1/3 part DE the size of perlite. I add Dynamite Control release, and whatever organic fertilizer I have on hand, I think in these I used Tomato-Tone. Once a month I add more organic, last time is in August. Sometimes I use other additives, like oyster shells. I had some to feed the grub eating bacteria I’m trying to grow in my grass. If you put chitin in, chitin eating bacteria will come,
Chitin eating bacteria will eat the chitin in living grubs and beetles. After I did the lawn, I had some left so some went in the various potting soils, which will eventually be used in my raised beds when I change out soil.

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My 5 currently in the ground are looking great. I’ve got to go out there and look to see if fruits are forming.

I’ve got to go out and map out which one is which. They still have their tags, thankfully…lol

I’ll try to post the kinds, if you are interested by the weekend. I know Borealis, tundra, blue velvet and 2 others are there…

Scott

My yesterday harvest of Modrý triumf variety (only 60g):

Comparison of 3 varieties:

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Or,how about Brady Max?
Brady

It would be nice to have a name, yes, works for me! You should name it, so yes, sounds good.
It looked bad at first, i thought it might not leaf out, well all of a sudden it just grew and grew in about a 3 week period.
Here it i surrounded by currants, it was a seedling size plant, it’s on it’s way, thanks a lot for this plant, very special!

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