You could also try planting them in partial shade. I have about 80 planted in a mixed guild and have noticed that they don’t look “as dead” in the summer as ones in full sun. They are also mulched.
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Gorgeous!
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Thank you! 
Planted my 4 new Honeyberries here in Texas in November. Unfortunately I could not get them sent later when Texas is cold which is Jan-Feb. They arrived dormant. We have a lot of variable weather before Jan… So my Boreal Beast, Willa and Aurora started leafing out. Then we had a cold snap in the teens for two days with it reaching 9F for several hours. The Maxie I planted stayed dormant. After the cold snap temps went back to 50s-70s degrees. They were unfazed and continued to leaf out and are now flowering. I am going to hand pollinate, if we have a warm winter I wonder if they will fruit. The previous year I planted the Blue Pagoda and Boreal Beauty and they have remained dormant. Kind of curious to see what happens.
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Who did you get them from that would send them now? I’d love to get a few planted while we have our “fake” spring. The ones I have are coming in April, and I’m a little worried they will only get a month of normal weather before the heat comes on. I’m in Texas too.
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Honeyberryusa. Don’t get tiny ones, they don’t seem to have enough time to establish before the heat. As noted in my comment above Blue Pagoda and Boreal Beauty survived without defoliating for me to 110 degrees last summer, so at least those can take the heat and not die. Make very sure they stay moist though.
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I must have failed on that front even though I watered them weekly all summer, because both of mine appear to have died near the beginning of fall. I don’t see any sign of living buds, but was waiting until spring to scratch them or pull them up, in case they are just playing dead.
I think I got a little one. Oh well, I will pot it up and over-summer it to plant it in the fall instead.
We have 1000 plants- the oldest plants are coming into the 5th season - 16 varieties from Berries Unlimited and U Sask. our soil is a light sandy loam and we do have drip tape on most of them. Weeds and birds along with drought and heat are challenges- if you have lighter soil fabric is very helpful for weed control and also for conserving moisture- we also have an infestation of pocket gophers who chew the drip tape- wood chips would be great but not readily available for us- we have mulched with wheat straw and flax straw which is preferred because it breaks down slowly but not easy to find a source. So far I would say the B Blizzard is the best for fresh eating with Aurora 2nd best. The most vigorous plants for us are Honeybee and Wojtek, Beast is more vigorous than Blizzard- we have Beast as a pollinator- planted in the same row-you can pick out the Beasts just looking down the row. Tart varieties are best for cooking/ baking- Wojtek has been the most productive so far- jam from honey berries is excellent- #1 - I rank raspberry jam second best- if you want berries netting is essential- most of our berries will start having significant production in the next couple years- I don’t think we will ever reach 10 lbs production per plant- 20 lbs is a fantasy in our environment- if we get to 5 Lbs I will be happy- netting is expensive and labor intensive- not worth it when plants are young Other than doing enough for personal use. We don’t have to net our raspberries- maybe lose 5%- honeyberries bird literally take 100%
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It seems that Aurora is the forum’s favorite, but I agree- Blizzard is the best!
I’ve never seen Wojtek available for purchase.
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It’s Polish I think. I’d buy a plant to try it if available…or try rooting cuttings.
hopefully ill get more berries on blizzard this year to make a comparison. a crow decided to land in the middle of my 2 yr. old bush breaking many of the new growth while eating the berries. nettings coming out this spring.
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If I remember correctly, I think Woj was a variety that likes to sprawl and not grow upright, or maybe the branches get weighted down by berries? Can someone confirm that?
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We got Wojtek from Berries unlimited- don’t think they offer this now- correct it is Polish - I think BU was using it to cross with other varieties- they maybe just had some they didn’t need- it is quite tart but great for jam- very vigorous in our light soil
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Wojtek in my experience was notably the largest and heaviest producer-verses our other varieties the same age- we did not have the bushes netted. The birds stripped off all the berries other than those which weighted down the branches to ground level and were on the underside-to pick these we needed to prop up the branches- it seemed the weight of the berries accounted for the branches position rather than a sprawling habit of growth- regardless it may be helpful to prune the bushes on the lateral aspects to encourage a predominant upright growth pattern which facilitate machine harvesting if one plans to machine harvest or even to make hand picking
more convenient-regardless we learned that netting will be needed.
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Wojtek is already an outdated variety. Although it is fertile, of vital growth and is a very spreading bush, many have stopped growing this variety. The branches bend down to the ground and the fruits were very difficult to ripen and were badly colored. Then they tasted bland. Those that were from the top of the bush had a sweet and sour taste after ripening, but their taste lags behind the other varieties.
I had about 50 bushes and maybe more. I disposed of everything and replaced it with varieties from Canadian breeding - Aurora, Blizzard, Beast, Honeybee. Well, I also kept older varieties that have proven themselves to me - Fialka, Amfora, Vostorg, Jugana.
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I got about 30 cm of snow. In January - February, I always apply fertilization to the snow. For a good spring start, it is a term that has proven itself for me. I do not fertilize during the growing season.
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wouldnt the melting snow wash away much of the fertilizer? I put horse manure around most of my plants last fall before freeze but after they were dormant. Amount depending on the size of the plants. I had my soil tested and it was very low N so hopefully growth will pick up this summer.
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I did a couple pots of cuttings in Dec, and another couple pots of cuttings in late January.
Since they are trying to leaf out already here…I’ll find out eventually if there is any success.
Pots are outdoors in the elements…and cold. (Last year March cuttings all failed to root/live.)
But, in more northerly climates, since this is a northern plant, the success probably is better. Z. 6b here.
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I used organic fertilizers, such as cow manure, on some bushes in autumn and worked them into the soil. Well, I will also add a little mineral NPK to the snow in February. In the spring I will cover it with agrotextile.
As for mineral fertilizers - NPK, I apply them on snow in January - February. That seems to me the most appropriate term. As the snow melts, the fertilizer is gradually spread and passes through the agrotextile to the plant roots at the most suitable time.
Similarly, wood ash will also pass through the agrotextile, only with ash carefully and in small quantities. It is safe for snow and does not burn plants.
Basically, potassium in ash is very soluble and susceptible to leaching. In the same way, calcium and magnesium will dissolve and all this will pass to the roots of the plants and through the agrotextile. Since the spices are shallow, they do not have a problem with accessing these elements and microelements from the ash, even when the ash is sprinkled from above on the agrotextile.
As for the hard-to-dissolve part of the ash, such as aluminum and silicon, which are its structural part, they basically improve the soil structure.
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