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

Does anyone in USA get orders from LOVE Honeyberry in Nova Scotia?

if you dont have any luck finding them, I will be doing some propagating this summer again, might have a few I could spare come this fall…

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I didn’t have much luck rooting soft cuttings this past year…so yeah,
as you have extras of some I don’t have, I’d probably be interested in
some small quantities.

stuck about 20 aurora cuttings in a raised bed in oct. what do you think the chances of them rooting and growing come may? read somewhere that’s the most reliable way to root them.

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My guess is mounding dirt up round the plant about half
and getting each limb to produce roots and cutting them off
(like stooling apple rootstocks) probably be the easiest method of propagation.

Haven’t yet tried.

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I think it depends on your climate, I tried hardwood cuttings and had very low success, but its pretty dry here, I think my cuttings dried out before they got a hance to root, even tho I sprayed them with a hose occasionally. Id recommend leaving as much below ground as possible, with only a bud or two above ground. I think people who live in more humid climates are likely to have better success, maybe if you put some kind of humidity dome/tent over them it might help. Im trying hardwood cuttings in my sand propagation beds this spring and I plan to put them on a timed mist, just to see how that works…

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I’m nearby in Denver proper. I’ve got an Aurora, Tundra, and Sugar Mountain Blue. Both are alive and produce, but they have been very slow growing. It could be the climate, but it could also be me…

I actually think your elevation and (I’m guessing) slightly cooler temperatures might be beneficial for honeyberries.

I’m not sure how many honeyberries you would be interested in, but if it’s a larger quantity, we could always look into a Front Range group buy as they are trying to do with Hartmann’s on the east coast; I’d be interested in helping round out an order if there’s enough interest.

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My attempts at rooting honeyberries have been 0% so far. I may try stooling or air rooting with plastic containers next.

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every thing that’s fairly easy to root i just stuck in a bare spot into my clay soil w/ 1 bud sticking out. mulched it heavy. and it rooted. some i watered some i didn’t. i stuck these in a mulched raised bed also covered with 4in. of snow. cleared a spot. stuck the scion to 1 bud. buried back in snow. ill let you guys know how it turned. out. the ground hadn’t froze yet and didn’t get really cold until early dec. so had time under there to put down roots. if this works good ill be doing this with cuttings of other honeyberries in my nursery bed in the fall.

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Hi All, this is a very interesting thread. I planted my first honeyberry almost five years ago (unknown variety), and it gives great fruit now. I have seven HB bushes in my garden now, and I ordered three more for my new allotment plot. I am hoping to propagate some from cuttings in my garden to add to the new plot. The ones I have are Silginka, Wojtek, Atut, two Kamtschaticas, and my oldest two are unknown (one is early and the other is “late”). The new ones I ordered are Uspiech, Siniczka, and Honeybee. It has taken a few years to get more flowers and fruit on the original plants. I love the tart flavour, so looking forward to more yields in the next few years. My winter is not terribly cold, but February has a few frosts (to a low of -5 Celsius maybe), and the flowers are often coming out and surviving them. Summer doesn’t get very hot, and they seem to like that.

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its good you dont get the heat. they really dont like that. im in z4 U.S and when it gets over 80f the leaves brown. warmer than that they drop and leaf out again once it cools. my oldest bush survived -40f/ -40c with no damage.

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I did new plantings in the fall. The Aurora variety predominates. Others were Blizzard, Vostorg, Honeybee.

Like every year, this year I will sprinkle snow, a little wood ash in January - February.

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How many honeyberry plants do you have in total now? It looks like you have a large honeyberry farm. Is that your favorite plant?

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Appears it’s his livlihood.

If it keeps the roof over the head, that probably makes it a favorite.

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The fruits are highly valued and popular in our country, so I don’t have to worry about selling the fruits. We process and freeze a lot. I’ll give some to my family and neighbors. And at home we have very valuable fruits all year round, processed in various ways.

I have planted about 300 shrubs and I started growing them 22 years ago. I pick most of the fruit myself. I have it broken down on my land. I have an experimental part and I am constantly changing varieties there, so the shrubs are of different sizes and therefore of different fertility. Well, the varieties that have worked for me, so I’m planting on the other part of the land, but they haven’t yet reached full fertility. Thus, not all shrubs reach full fertility. Thus, a third of the shrubs partly reach full fertility. The others are either rejuvenated and cut down to the ground, some I liquidate and plant others, some are still small 1,2,3 years. Shrubs, which are too shaved on the inside and thickened on the periphery, with small increments of twigs and smaller fruits, so in the autumn I rejuvenate and cut them at the ground. They won’t start giving birth to me until the second year. And while pruning, I don’t see if the bushes are old or younger. If they bear the above characters, I will cut them. Fertility gradually increases, and when I see the thickening, shaving and shrinking of the fruit again, I cut them up again and so I keep repeating it. If you only have 2-3 shrubs, you can’t afford it. That would be 2 years without fruits.

The rule for these plants is that if you want to have a stable crop of nice big fruits, you must have many more shrubs and more varieties for better pollination. Then he can afford to exchange varieties for others, rejuvenate and so on, without losing the crop.

Although the shrubs give birth to me quite steadily, with small fluctuations, so 2020 was the weakest year that I have remembered since I grew them. But the following year, 2021, was one of the best years.

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There are limited times when plant patents restrict propagation by seed.
*Annuals (or otherwise) which have been bred to come true from seed; unless of course you outcross them so that the progeny do not grow true to type.
*Repeatedly back crossing a normally clonally propagated plant to a patented parent to produce a functionally identical plant that isn’t technically a clone.

Additionally, in the case of gmo where special genes have been inserted the gene itself is often patented so whether or not the actual cultivar was patented is irrelevant since the patent would apply regardless of genetic variation as long as that patented gene was involved.

In the case of honey berries, there aren’t any selections bred to come true from seed and none contain any patented gmo genes so growing them from seed is fair game.

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In my experience (cca the last 10 years or so) there’s no comparison between older cultivars, esp European/Russian ones, and the Boreals - which are greatly superior in taste (and size). It’s almost like it’s a different species. Also, as has been mentioned in the thread before, they flower later so there are actually pollinators around to make a difference.

Just came accross a sale of B. Blizzard and B. Beauty at a local nursery where they are making space for new stuff - during the last 2 covid years inventory just didn’t move much. So i’m planting more, this time in the field since there will be more of them. The boreal line is definitely worth growing for taste, not just for variety.

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Do you have Aurora or Indigo Gem?

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I have Indigo Yum (not Gem) but have not been particularly impressed. The experimental Aurora died unfortunately.

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The first honeyberry flower of the season opened in my garden today. Interestingly, on that bush, most of the leaves haven’t opened yet. I haven’t seen a bumblebee anywhere yet either!

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