Must be an “early” blooming variety. The complaint with early blooming in the more moderate climates is that they bloom before bugs are flying around, so they won’t get pollinated to set fruit. Did you get any fruit last year? You may want to consider some of the “late” blooming varieties as well.
I’m going to write down all my bloom times this year, but in cold climates with a short growing season, it seems the “early” and “late” blooming varieties all bloom roughly around the same time so it doesn’t matter. The Maxine Thompson varieties (Japanese) were specifically developed for their late blooming traits for moderate climates (Corvallis, Oregon). The Univ. of S varieties out of Canada- beauty, blizzard, and beast- are supposed to be late blooming as well.
I’m not very familiar with the European varieties, but I’m sure you can find some varieties that are late blooming.
I believe this is Duet, but I don’t know. It is in its 5th season this year, and there is one beside it in its 4th season, also unknown. The second one starts to flower about two weeks later, and so far, both have been pretty good with fruit. We had a mild March last year though. I have newer bushes in the garden this year that are also about to flower. I’m hoping a stray bumblebee will wake up in a few weeks and find a feast in my garden.
I need recommendations for new honey berries. I have 4 plants and honestly I am not that impressed with any of them but I have figured out what I am looking for.
-Blue Bird is the biggest best growing plant I have at around 6 ft tall. Production is ok but but taste isn’t that great (comparable to eating an unripe plum).
-Berry Blue is small and anemic. It is only a few ft tall, it has never really grown well, show signs of chlorosis and is tormented by the summer heat. Production is low while it taste similar to Blue bird.
-Sugar Mountain Blue is my second best growing plant at about 4 ft tall. Production is good; However the taste is the worst and very bitter to me, it isn’t worth eating.
-Tundra is small about the size of Berry Blue and the least productive plant I have. On the flip side it is the best tasting berry I have. It’s taste is approaching a fresh blueberry for how good it is to eat.
For the entirety of their lives all of my plants have lived in the shade of an apple tree I recently cut down due to fungal rot. I live in Utah zone 6B at 4200 ft we get to 100+ degrees with a high UV index and I know these guys aren’t going to make it. I do have other locations in my yard that are partial shade to plant the new plants.
So what I am looking for are bushes that are heat and sun tolerant, have large upright growth (no spreading habit), taste as good or better than Tundra and larger berries would be a plus. Bloom time doesn’t really matter to me. If late bloomers would do better with the sun that is fine.
If available in Ireland you could get some Blue Orchard Mason bees. At this point you would be looking at ordering them next winter, but they start pollinating super early. Really, you control when they start but still in general they are early to very early.
check out Dr Thompsons pure Japanese haskaps on Honeyberry USA. supposedly the most heat tolerant. i don’t grow any of hers so maybe someone else that does will chime in.
I’m not sure if they are available but thanks for the advice. I might hang some nesting boxes for solitary bees this year. The temperature has been hanging at about 5°C for a while, so I don’t blame the bees for staying asleep. I don’t see it forecast to rise much over the next few weeks, but we often get sporadic warm days in March. Or I could try hand pollination, but that’s a faff!
Claire , do you have bumble bees there? they are my best and most cold hardy pollinators here. ive seen them out as low as 50f if the suns out. put brush piles around your property. they like to make nests in them. ive counted 4 different species of them here. too cold for honey bees to survive here without help so its up to the native pollinators to do the job. i have put out mason bee and leafcutter bee cocoons but dont see many laying eggs in my breeding boxes. bumbles are thick when the honeyberries are blooming.
Yes, we have many bumblebees, and I originally planted a honeyberry bush to be an early pollen source. The weather has been consistently cold this winter though, and I haven’t seen any buzzing around yet. Usually you’d see a few in March, so hopefully soon. I have hyacinths dotted around the garden to attract them too. Most of my neighbours gardens are fairly bare at this time though, so they might be skipping the area. I’ll have to see if I can make some nesting sites for them too, then!
my indigo gem/ treat are thick like that but the only pruning ive done so far is for touching or crossed branches and very low hanging ones. you’re in a much warmer clime than me so some thinning probably would help. everything I’ve read says to limit your pruning of them so dont over do it. .most of mine started fruiting the 2nd year. my boreal series fruited the same year with a few berries. full production for the early fruiting Russian/ Canadian crosses are yr 4 on. are your plants pollinator compatible with each other? should have seen some berries by now.
@steveb4 — yes they should pollinate… OGW had them listed by Early Blooming / Late Blooming… and I got two from the Late Blooming group. I have seen them bloom, at the same time, the blossoms are yellowish and look somewhat like a honeysuckle.
The first two years they did not get along well with my summer heat… lost all leaves in July, or August… the Taller one seemed to be having a harder time than the shorter one. But last year they did better, kept their leaves all year and into the fall… it did rain a LOT last year.
But yes the last two years they have bloomed at the same time… but no fruit.
Perhaps my pollinators do not know what they are.
If they do bloom well this year I will try some hand pollination to see if that might do it.
I am sure hoping I get to try some honeyberries this year.
maybe try putting a few potted flowers around them that bees like. the bumbles are all over them here. only bee ive seen on them. they will fly as cold as 50f. try taking a small paintbrush and pollinating some flowers yourself. if those are the only fruit that develops you have a pollination problem. in some warmer places honeyberries run into this problem as there arent any cold hardy enough pollinators to come pollinate because they flower so early. i hope that isnt the issue for you.
@steveb4 … I have peaches and apples right near the honeyberries… and they start blooming before the honeyberries do.
Last year all 3 of my peach trees had first bloom between 3/17 - 3/22.
The honeyberries do start blooming a little later than peaches and apples… but best I remember they do bloom while my peaches and apples are still blooming.
I always get good pollination on the peaches and apples… so do have pollinators that early. The honeyberry blossoms are not showey so they might be getting passed over for peach and apple.
I will try putting a pot of showey flowers down there between the two honeyberry bushes… that may do it. I will try some hand pollination too.
