I wouldn’t use Czech as a judge of whether you like honeyberries. It tends to be sour and astringent. I mostly keep those bushes as pollinators for the better kinds.
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There are more uses for fruit than fresh eating.
But I didn’t particularly like Indigo Treat…but am I going to “cancel” the variety.?
No way! (I just won’t plant a bunch of the variety.)
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Are honeyberries one of those fruits that might end up tasting better a few years after they first start giving fruit (like paw paw are sometimes… or at least that’s what I’ve read)? Has anyone experimented with inputs or withholding water when the berries are almost ripe to try to get the brix up?
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I ate my Indigo Treat. The last one…day 8 after it turned blue. (I’m thinking Aruroa probably are tastier…but I’ll have to Wait 'till next year.)
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i have both indigos and gem is better but in jam its still very good.
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they do get a little better as the bush ages and berry size increases as well. they ripen more uniformly also.
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This season looks very good so far. There are a lot of fruits. There was a strong storm with the glacier. It fell densely, but was small 4mm. The damage is minimal. I am satisfied with the amount of moisture that plants need most right now.
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I suppose you had what we call a hail storm? Nice looking crop.
(I’ll have to say my Indigo Treat weren’t all that tasty.)
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Hail damage to some fruits. Most fruits are hidden under the leaves and this is good protection.
Aurora regularly has a good harvest. This year looks great.
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Thank you SO much for posting this and mentioning hail damage. I was wondering what happened to so many of my berries! Will this make the berries rot?
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I’m getting some blue fruit on my five year old bush now. My daughter and I tasted some last night, and they were pretty nice, sour-sweet and she loved it (she’s five). My two year old son refused to eat them (swear he thinks his parent is trying to poison him). I think we’re going to have fruit for at least a month on this plant, because it flowered for so long this year. Our other plants might be a week or two later when they first ripen, but I’m looking forwards to a bountiful harvest this year. Enough to keep one child happy in the garden anyway!
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my indigo series are loaded with blooms as are my 2 auroras and honeybee, the boreal series have flowers but havent opened yet. anxious to try those to compare to aurora. have them growing in my old chicken run so theyre growing 2xs as fast as my plants have on the other side of the yard growing in my native clay. theyre also in a low spot at the bottom of the hill so they also get more water there so that also helps.
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Any damage to the fruit, whether by hail, frost or wind, when the fruit rubs against the twigs is unpleasant and affects the taste of the fruit. And I’m not talking about damage from mucous membranes, worms, tusks and birds. If a small hail falls and the fruit is still small, the damage is minimal, as the fruit is hidden under the leaves, which absorb the shocks. But the fruit at the crash site may rot later if the weather is rainy. It also depends on how big the fruit is, if there is hail and the state of ripening of the fruit. When the fruits ripen, they have a soft surface, which is very prone to damage, either by wiping in windy weather or by hail. Wounds can dry out or even rot. But it always affects the taste of the fruit. After the recent heavy rain, the twigs are excellent and I will have a forest there again. I also made new plantings from varieties - Aurora, Vostorg, Blizzard, Violet and in some places I planted Honeybee, like a pollen.
I also made new plantings from varieties - Aurora, Vostorg, Blizzard, Violet and in some places I planted Honeybee as a pollinator.
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Same here. I made the same remark to my husband.
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i gave my 3 oldest plants a light pruning in april. thought it would reduce the fruit crop but instead it actually invigorated them. never seen so many blooms. the fish emulsion probably had something to do with it also. got rid of all the low branches so should be easier to pick.
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What’s the best way to train these plants?
Positive reinforcement…
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For me… honeyberries have been disappointing… in a few ways…
Got my first ripe ones this year… in year 4… and only got a few and none have really tasted good yet.
I have strawberries that ripen before during and after them… and I like strawberries a lot better.
As my honeyberries start ripening… my goumi berries really kick in (red gem) and they taste much better than the honeyberries I have got so far.
Honeyberries turn a ripe color, a week or two before they are actually ripe and supposed to taste good… well that is somewhat of a pain too… If they all started ripening at the same time, you could sort of keep up with which ones to try next… but when they don’t… it is really just a shot in the dark at whether you are picking one that might taste good or not.
For those reasons… I may just replace mine with something I like much better and can depend on producing much fruit… a black or gold raspberry perhaps, or a couple more blue berries.
One of the main reason I was giving my honey berry so much time (4 years to fruit)… was I was hoping they would ripen early, before strawberries… but now that I know strawberries ripen here a couple weeks before any honeyberries do… that puts honeyberries way down my list of want to keeps.
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Honeyberries have a cult like following because they are one of the few plants that are so easy to grow…in cold climates. They aren’t too fussy, and they can take a lot of abuse. They also are kind of sweet (although my wife thinks they taste like vinegar). The honeyberries are competing with currants (tastes like earth), gooseberries (tastes like a sour grape and has thorns), bush cherries (sour and slow growth), raspberry (ripens later in the season), among others. Given that competition, you can see why honeyberries are so great.
You live in the Garden of Eden. You can grow pretty much everything that exists without even trying. I can see why honeyberries would come off as a disappointment. What cultivars are you growing?
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