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

Yes. Protect from the birds and don’t harvest until they are very dark and basically fall off in your hand when you pull them. Enjoy! :slight_smile:

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Time to get some netting!!! Gotta protect my babies !

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Posting this from this thread here too.

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Unfortunately I don’t qualify :sob: not enough plants. I also don’t have room for 10 unfortunately! The place I got them from sold a duo of tundra and indigo gem (I have since learned aren’t compatible, so I have an Aurora coming). I also forget which order I planted them in too … So hoping once they get bigger I can figure it out. Other 2nd plant doesn’t have any flowers on it so I’m totally puzzled how this one set berries.

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A number of us have observed that certain cultivars of honeyberry are actually self fertile and don’t require cross pollination for fruit set. Now that people are starting to realize the genetic potential is there I expect to see breeders developing more varieties specifically as (and also advertised as) self fertile.

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I feel your pain. Kinda didn’t help that I lost the ID tags on the bulk of the plants either.

Though I will confess, I want to see if I can get a small planting to succeed first before I triple the size of my planting.

Does anyone know if honeyberries are rootknot nematode resistant?

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Yeah I’m 90% sure it’s the indigo gem one (it’s in the better spot) but not completely sure. From now on I’m gonna take photos with the tags when I plant to make sure I remember :rofl:

Once it gets bigger I’ll see if anyone can help tell the difference…

As far as nematodes, no idea. You could always solarize the ground prior to planting if need be (you’d probably burn up honeyberry roots trying it with them planted). Or try some natural predators of them as well.

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Yezberry cultivars are Japanese. All Japanese varieties are later blooming.

In Chicagoland a few of my bushes are flowering. We often get snow in May. I doubt that these plants will see pollination. February was the warmest in Chicago history.

This might be a bad year for yields?

I don’t remember such a warm February either. I’m from Central Europe, and when it comes to blooming and bee pollination, I’m quite satisfied so far. During blooming, frosts are not so common, there is moist air, and therefore nectar production is high. I constantly have bee swarms, and today they buzzed around for about 6 hours.

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I can’t wait until mine gets that big! What variety is it?

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In the photo is the Amfora variety, this being its second year after total autumn pruning

It has large fruits and is productive. The fruits have a lot of pigment, but they have a smooth surface similar to Blizzard. I have to consider that during harvesting. I have limited its quantity. Aurora is not yet in full bloom and is great. Most of my planting is already composed of Aurora, followed by Fialka, which blooms slightly earlier and for a long time. I only sporadically plant Honeybee, and the bushes quickly thicken. I also want to expand the planting of the Beast variety. I’m not planting very late varieties yet.

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I planted another 10 pieces of Aurora in 90 L containers filled with sawdust and ash, as described above.

These seedlings were rooted last year. I will update the photo to show their growth and whether last year’s planting will be repeated. The ones planted last year this way grew branches over 1 m tall with a trunk thickness of 1 cm.

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Are they seedlings or rooted cuttings?

These are cuttings rooted a year before they were planted into 90 L containers. At the bottom, there are 40 cm of sawdust and on top of them, a 3 - 5 cm layer of ash. Last year in May, I planted 2 pieces of Aurora this way. Auroras were planted into compost to which I added granulated chicken manure. Now, I am repeating this experiment, but in larger quantities. 15 pieces planted in 90 L containers form Auroras from cuttings rooted last year. The rest consist of other varieties. I want to plant around 10 pieces of the Aurora variety into containers in about a week to confirm this experiment.

They look like this now. If I find photos from the previous experiment, I will share them hechecking.

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Aurora:

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@Viktor or anyone who has a lot of honeyberries planted, what type of netting do you like best to protect from the birds?

Has anyone used Avigard?

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Since this kept happening to me, I started a paper map of what’s planted and where it’s planted about 4 years ago. There is a member here who has a really nice tracking system on their website, but I can’t remember their username :frowning: .

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Someone mentioned that they cut aluminum cans and write the names on them and tie it to the plants as a more permanent option.

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I’ve had crows steal aluminum tags that were tied with twine, and I don’t like to use wire in case I forget to replace it before it girdles the branch, so I’ve started using landscaping stakes to anchor the aluminum tags in the ground at the base of the trees. No crow thefts yet for those!

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