$4/lb if you bring your own containers. 
And I would agree about the cooking with sugar. The honeyberry custard pie was very good.
nkurz, thank you for that run down. That’s very helpful for those of us looking to plant some. I’d wondered about Strawberry Sensation.
I’d also be interested in keeping up to date with where to source different varieties, so I hope folks keep sharing that info.
(Is that like $ 2 per pound if you count berries eaten as you pick?
I’ve read online that honeyberries can do well in partial shade. Does anybody have them in a mostly shaded area and still have them do well?
Mine only get 2 hours of sun and and don’t produce much. I don’t know if the problem is a lack of sun or a pollination problem. They do flower and grow well. This year I planted two in a sunnier location to see if that helps.
That math sounds about right to me. 
It’s a small, new little operation. He has one patch of honeyberries, and one of Saskatoons, and I think the Saskatoons are older. I do believe he also takes some to the local farmer’s market. I have no idea how well they sell.
I went out to my previous favorite U-pick places today, only to find she pulled out all the currants and gooseberries and replaced them with blueberries. Not enough demand. sigh
no one here has any clue what a currant is. few know what a gooseberry is. say serviceberry or honeyberry they look at you like your speaking chinese. cherries dont grow this far north. neither do kiwi. if its not apples, strawberry, raspberry or blueberry they dont care for it here. ive converted some of my family to others but only a few neighbors are willing to even try a different berry. its too bad really. a local farmer a few towns over planted 200 acres of honeyberry 6 yrs ago. he started to sell some to the local supermarkets frozen for $4 a pint 2 yrs ago. i was estatic! a year later he stopped. i saw him and he said they werent selling here so he started to sell them to the s. Maine cities and was selling everything he had at $7 a pint there. its too bad people dont open their minds to new flavors.
Thank you very much for the rundown Nate, I have read on this forum that the flavors can be more variable (and usually better) once the plants have a few years of producing under their belts. I hope they only get better for you! Keep us posted with any future revelations as well.
I wish I could give you 10 likes for your assessment! I really appreciate the time that you took to post it.
One of the first honeyberries I purchased a few years ago was a blue mist and blue Hokkaido from OGW. I’m not sure if OGW developed these cultivars or not. You don’t really hear about them or see them around.
Blue Mist is kind of dense and seems to sprawl on the ground like a gooseberry. Right now it’s wider than it is tall, and it seems to have tipped over (could have been from the dog jumping on it). The good news is that with foliage this thick, the birds can’t see the berries and leave it alone. All of my other berries on the other cultivars got picked clean before they were ripe. The plants are still small, so I haven’t invested in netting yet.
Blue Hokkaido- very upward growing. It flowered the same time as blue mist, but the berries are not ready yet.
My wife doesn’t really like honeyberries, but she gave the blue mist a thumbs up. I don’t think it can compete head to head with the blizzard series, but if you have extra space and want a bush that the birds can’t raid, then this one might be for you. It doesn’t have the “zing” that the Russian berries have.
My dog took a liking to honeyberries and really thrashed this blizzard bush. He snapped the main growth and ate most of the berries. It’s pretty much laying on the side now.
How much can I cut it back? I don’t want to kill it, but I’m afraid I have to start over with this one.
cut off all the damage. it will grow back.
Should I do it now or wait until winter / spring?
if the leaves are still green, leave it until it goes dormant.
I cut back some plants nearly 50% in June…tried rooting the cuttings, but little luck.
The pruned plants are putting forth more side shoots…and that had been my objective.
Personally, I think it’s a typo. I did a google search and I don’t see any references to a Keiku variety.
Kieko?
I have planted a few of the Maxine Thompson varieties (Solo, Keiko, Maxie), and I would like to plant a few more. Solo and Maxie put out incredible growth this year. Keiko didn’t do much. Maxie went into this year pretty small so it didn’t set any fruit, but I should get some next year. Solo and Keiko set fruit.
I didn’t notice any substantial difference in bloom times between the “early” and “late” bloomers. I didn’t write anything down, but I generally recall them all blooming around the same time or at least having some general overlap (Alaska- short season- early and late blooming tends to happen around same time).
My question is on the ripening. I don’t have a lot to compare with, but the Maxine varieties aren’t really ripe yet. I did have a little bit of the blizzard (late variety) and it was ready now. The Maxine cultivar berries, although nice and plump, are far from ripe. They taste awful right now. I’ve heard from another Alaska grower that the pure Japanese haskaps “just don’t ripen this far north”. I’d like to think they will make it, but there’s only a few weeks left in the season. Anyone else grow the Maxine varieties in the far north? Do they ripen?
Keiko- this is the only cultivar I have that is showing signs of powdered mildew on the leaves. It’s even on the fruit (see pic). Even if the fruit was ripe, I would be less excited to eat a bunch of those. Anyone else have the same experience? If the fruit were theoretically ripe, would you eat them or try to wash them first?
First pic solo, second pic Keiko.
i put in beauty and beast this spring. no berries yet. getting blizzard this fall. i noticed my indigo series , aurora and honeybee all start to ripen the same week. im wondering how different beauty beast and blizzard ripening will be. im like you guys. short summer with long days.
