Did you have to report back about flavors or make any observations? I always wondered how people got involved so early- guess it’s kind of word of mouth. How long are you covered by the non propagation agreement?
I don’t think many people knew of her passing. She had no funeral, and even her OSU contact page would lead one to believe she is still alive.
Any idea about the exact species of honeysuckle? I am thinking about clear cutting the honeysuckle this year so it makes new shoots that I might be able to whip and tongue graft to next spring.
Have you seen a complete listing of all of the Maxine cultivars for sale in one place? Seems like they are cut up and sold all over the place- a few varieties here and there- but nobody has them all. I’d never heard of the Opus variety before.
Honeyberryusa has a bunch (but not all).
Gurneys has Opus- maybe it’s limited to just them? Could be similar to the “Wowza” romance series cherry situation.
This place sells “Pirika” and “Willa” (never heard of those) and many of the other named cultivars, but no Opus. Seems like they have strange shipping policies. It always annoys me when I see lower 48 shipping only.
Hmmmm… As she was one of the original principles in the use of gasaway genetics for eastern filbert blight resistance in hazels if would seem I have two entirely different species of her progeny growing in my backyard.
FWIW, I planted Maxie, Solo, and the three Boreals last year. I got a small crop the 1st year (!) and am in the process of harvesting a decent crop this second year. Maxie has ripened first and fully, so I picked it all. Fruits are very large and tasty – as advertised, like a more tart and flavorful blueberry. The others are not yet fully ripe. It’s been at least 2 weeks since color.
I’ve been buying the largest trees possible from honeyberryusa. I was very pleased with the size of the 6 trees purchased last year. I was also astonished when they boomed 1-2 days after planting. This year I ordered 4 more. Two were decent sized but two were very tiny.
I think part of the trouble
cocerning the ‘tiny’ stock…is the
supply of larger stock just doesn’t exist…
it’s already been sold as the demand is
greater than the supply of this relatively
new plant.
Good to hear you found some that bloomed immediately,
obviously they were older and more mature plants.
Initially, my simi-firm cuttings taken around Memorial Day have rooted at around 15-20% just by ‘sticking’ them in rooting powder and then into containers of soil, and placing in heavy shade outdoors.
Seems like if I put 6 to 10 firm softwood cuttings in a one gallon sized pot, that I’d get a plant I’d not have to move for a couple years.
On a small scale I’ve rooted
quite a variety of plants.
Sometimes summer cuttings of softwood does better than dormant hardwood cuttings when it comes to getting them to root.
(You do have to remove the tender tip growth…and use firm green shoots.)
Remains to be seen how little plants overwinter outdoors…but honeyberries I suspect
can handle it.
In October, the very poorly trained “landscapers” came to destroy and put in Home Depot stuff, and one thing they dug up but oddly didn’t throw into the trash was my 15 year old solitary honey berry bush. They had killed the mate 3 times, but this one would not die even though they always butchered it with an electric saw.
So I called up an Asian lady I know, who’s hubby is running for office, and said I know they are busy but they have a yard and asked if they would save it. They did! They came in the rain, took it home, and within 12 hours it was in a quality dug hole in a new permanent yard.
So this spring we all awaited to see if it would die.
No, this stubborn honeyberrry wanted life, and it is huge, green, and had a couple berries! They bought a new small honey berry and hope they got one that will cross pollinate as I cannot recall exact name variety.
I am glad it lives, and hopeful one day someone will get fruit.
I have been growing honeyberries for several years. I bought my first batch of borealises from Canada before they were even released in the US. They did not thrive in our dry sandy soil, so I bought a piece of land and transplanted them to a low, fertile area and heavily mulched them. They really took off. I had put circles of chicken wire around each bush. Not the best idea except for temporarily when bushes are small. The older ones grew branches right through the wire, some with berries outside and some inside. Today I had to try to remove that wire to even pick them. It was quite a struggle. Not sure what I will do with them over winter. Deer don’t seem to home in on them, but have been known to nibble. The birds didn’t bother them this year, either, but that could easily change. I expect about six gallons this year from 30-some bushes, many of which are not mature yet. I like them in hot cereal year round. Mmmmm. How do others protect their honeyberry bushes over winter?
Yeah, I had something (deer or rabbits) chew much of the new growth off one bush this spring. The berries were surrounded by a 4’ fence, so either a deer jumped over or a rabbit / woodchuck crawled under.
Assuming bird action, I netted the berries. Even so I’ve had catbirds trying to steal berries. One that I saw worked its way under the netting.
Sounds like I had better refence mine by winter. To tell the truth, I have found that most taste about the same. They get a little sweeter if left on the bush longer. Some varieties get much larger berries. I am also curious about Strawberry Sensation.
I have one planted. It put out some decent growth this year after the dog chewed it back to a twig. I think in about two years a lot of people will have plants of fruit producing age.
I visited a u-pick honeyberry farm this past weekend. It took me about an hour and a half, maybe, to get 5 very full pints of honeyberries (and 5 of Saskatoon berries, which were MUCH easier picking) I made a batch of jam and a honeyberry custard pie, plus used 1 pint fresh as a decoy to keep my youngest out of the rest of them. She ate them all.
The variety I picked was Tundra. He did also have Aurora, but they were younger bushes with not a lot of berries on them as well as a bit behind the Tundra in terms of ripeness.
I did also get offered a job as a picker. I thought at first, this may have been due to my efficiency. In hindsight (literally) it may have had more to do with the sight of me head down in the bushes, looking for the ones that hide deep in the bushes.
Interestingly, fresh - my husband preferred the Saskatoons, as the honeyberries were a bit on the tart side for him. But in both jam and pie, the honeyberries won out. Ditto another friend who commented that while strawberry rhubarb remains his favorite pie, the honeyberry custard and Saskatoon streusel are now 2 and 3, respectively.
