I tasted my honeyberries for the first time yesterday and the flavor reminded me of the wild blackberries that grow in the woods around here, tart and tasty. 😋
I have honeyberry in my front yard, but it was a poor location. Turns out deer love them too. Two years running now deer pressure has stripped all the flower buds off my plants. Next year I’ll be wrapping them when the buds form
As a child, we ate this honeyberry a lot of. And the milkshakes with honeyberries are especially delicious. And the color of the milkshakes is a cool purple.
This is the best video I have found on growing honeyberries. I ordered and planted three honeyberry plants this year and have been having so much trouble keeping the starts alive. I live in a windy, high-desert area in SE Idaho, zone 5b. Your video is the first that mentioned that honeyberries have a little trouble with wind and heat. Thank you. I enjoy your channel very much.
(Zone 6b here-North OgdenUT) Yes great info to know. I have a perfect sheltered spot for them in my backyard. I was wondering if they need full shade or if an exposed east-facing wall is enough?
I think that you may be harvesting your Haskaps 3-4 weeks early when they are not ripe. June sounds very early and I've heard you're supposed to leave them for several weeks on the bush after they turn blue (Although netting is a must to keep from birds). I'm expecting my first crop this year on my rooftop garden :)
I planted haskap in my tiny shady yard a few months ago and so far the tiny shrubs are still alive! More than I can say for most of the other plants I've tried planting. Win!
I planted my first Haskap bush last year. Tiny thing, but it survived the winter. Could only find one variety, but I am looking for a buddy for it this year. To my surprise I still got a few ripe berries this year (just a handfull), and they were sweet! Tasted like a mix of a plum and a (bush) blueberry. I live in Norway, and bought an «arctic» variety.
Соmpletely agree with you (2:50): growing berries in your garden can be time intensive, especially for those people who are not used to this "female" labour yet from childhood.
Naw if you have the right varieties honeyberrys are definitely sweet. My aurora and sugar mountain blue varieties are very sweet. And I've been wrapping plastic cups around my branches early spring to air layer and has worked great by late spring I see roots and have many more honeyberries. I do this to many of my plants for easy copies.
Thanks for sharing one of the very true facts that sometimes seem to be concealed: even as permacultural gardening is fun, it is still laborious in parts and time consuming. I think it is importnt to be honest about this.
I spent four hours picking cherries from a 10' ladder this morning. Its been raining here for 5 days. Half the cherries were rotten so I picked them from the stem. I guess I shoulda picked in the rain! My first canning project! My neighbor has a giant elderberry bush in full bloom right now. Gonna ask if I can pick some flowers and try your recipe! Thanks for the harvest video on hascaps. Those are on my list of plants to order!💙🌎✌
Sounds like an amazing crop! Though I don't think it would thrive in my 9b very sunny and dry climate. Maybe I could give it a try in a very shady area
Thank you from the UK. I just purchased the Banana Honeyberry, which is supposed to be the sweetest. The Garden Centre said I will not need a second plant to pollinate because I already have honeysuckle in the garden. Apparently, Honeyberry is from that same Honeysuckle family. I will let you know if I have any luck with just that one Honeyberry plant. ♥️🥰🐝♥️
I live in 6b (North Ogden, Utah) and just ordered boreal beast and boreal beauty honeyberries! I'm looking forward to trying them. Your video was so informative! Thanks for sharing your experience!
I just bought some honey berry plants last spring. I hope they do as good as yours. I've had them before years ago, I think it was about 20 years ago and I never got fruit because every year they would bloom so early and then the blooms would freeze, at that time I lived in zone 6, now I live in zone 8a but the winter time is very cold. One year, we had a strange winter around 2010 where we got -28 below zero, but that's never happened here before, and it hasn't happened again. The problem now is it's so hot where I live in the summer time, so I have my honey berries under a shade cloth. I can't wait for them to fruit, lol I know I'm getting ahead of myself, right now I just hope they live.
you are so right! I have never tasted swiss chard until I had it in my garden! Now I put it in almost any food!ahahhaha :) Broaden your pallets and your minds would be a great slogan!
your videos are so inspiring! Love them! I have learned and applied so much since I found this channel! Great that your face shows in your latest videos, ..Thank you for all you do!
I love Haskap! I've managed to plant 9 different types here in Seattle. I found that I have better luck pollinating with the later bloom varieties as the early type can sometime bloom before the bees are very active (Including my Mason bees). So I have from Borealis on for bloom time. I haven't been able to keep my kids from eating all of them to make a Jam yet, but maybe next year. All the bushes have been picked clean for the year and are working on our Everbearing Raspberries and Strawberries now. Happy harvesting!
I love me some early honeyberries I love the improved cultivars. I have aurora, borealis, blue palm, happy giant, sugar mountain blue, chek 17, kalinka, indigo gem and probably a couple I can't think of. Great stuff if you have trouble with blueberries than go for honeyberrys.
@@JRoadzReegz Tundra and sugar mountain blue are my favorite when fully ripe are definitely most sweet and delicious although I don't mind picking them early are sweet/tart. Once I found the varieties I like have air layered them and planted multiple bushes. I have kalinka and czech 17(aka berry blue) which are Russian varieties said to be more tart but I have them because they're said to be great pollinators as I can tell those are packed with berries.
I'm excited for this so I'm commenting at the beginning of the video. I have been thinking about what varieties of honeyberry I need for Colorado in a spot right on the boarder between zones 4 foothills, 5b plains, and near 6a plains. I think I have a spot in my garden, but I hope it's not too small.
I agree... using a sheet/shake method doesn't work for me because I have things planted so closely together. I'm looking forward to harvesting my haskaps soon. How long does it usually take for these shrubs to start producing. One of my shrubs flowered this year - only the 2nd year from planting! I don't think I'll have to wait much longer. :)
Lots of comments dancing all-around the subjects perimeter. Sources ,types , cultivation tips,?? thanks for all the other helpful info. Culinary insights. Harvesting.
I bought 2 bushes this year and they got really sunburnt ahhhh and where I put them I can't put something in to give it shade. Oh well all a learning process. Thanks for the video!
BRIX is the measurement of sweetness in berries like honeyberry/haskap. If you like sweet haskap berrie for dessert as they are, ask for variaties with high BRIX points. One of the sweetest available in Europe is "Jugana" with a BRIX of 19. Ask for similar from your local provider of plants.
Front yard? I got stray cats and offleash dogs running around my front yard. Im afraid they would pee on it but i dont have any place for them in my backyard. The tallest fence allowed is just 4 feet.
Okay...I listened twice and you DID say that where you live in Portland is Zone 8b. I live in Central Texas and we are Zone 8b, as well. I've been splitting my time between Utah and Texas for the past 10 years or so, but I own my home in Texas and plan to move back permanently in a year or so. That said, I plan to extend my yard there towards permaculture and want to at least give honeyberries a try. I've got mature trees to plant them under as a shrub layer and prevent them being "baked" in the sun during the summer. I refuse to believe some of the standard "they only grow in Zone 3" that is out there. I found some honeyberries at a Utah nursery that are on an end-of-season "sale"...but not a great sale. I've been debating whether to get them or not...and the nursery closes for the season this Saturday...soooo...
It's apparent to me if you have the right cultivars you will have sweet varieties. Like my sweet blackdown black currant or my sweet jonkeer von tets red currant. Or my black gem blackberry are very sweet I like to seek out the top rated fresh eating varieties.
What varietes are you growing? There is very big differences between cultivars regarding tartness. Some are very good for fresh eating, some are very much not. There are a few new cultivars Aurora, Boreal Blizzard, Boreal Beaty and Boreal Beast that are pretty good i've heard. Planted all these in my own garden but they are just seedlings atm. BR from Norway
I'm running out of room in my yard, I wonder if anyone knows whether I can grow them in the shadow of my house on the North side. I'm running out of room!
Been wanting to add haskap to our yard and finally picked up a couple of late blooming varieties. I'm wondering what your experience with how much sun they need in Portland has been as I've seen advice ranging from doing well in full shade to needing about 6 hours of direct sun (w afternoon shade) to fruit well and I'm trying to figure out where to place them in our yard for good yields.
Glad you made this. I've been trying to decide if I should try these here and if I would like them. You've helped answer some of my concerns. The fruit leather idea sounds good, I love rhubarb and look forward to rhubarb season all year, so you could say I don't mind tart. How much direct sun do they need, would half a day be enough? My climate is pretty hot and dry in summer even though my zone is the same as yours. I could give them a full day in the sun but that might be too much here.
Hi Angela! What cultivars are you growing? I planted Blue Moon and Blue Pagoda. According to my research they are supposed to be sweeter. Do you have either of these?
That is a fantastic crop Angela 14 cups and you still have more to pick that is wonderful, I wonder if it is too warm to grow here in zone 9b Central fl?
I have solo and Maxie for 4 years they are so sour not worth to grow. Many other berries taste so much better. They said wait until fully ripe still very sour even dropped to the ground.
I’m new at growing these wonderful Haskap/Honeyberry. My 2 are called “Lora” & Chito” can you tell me anything about the 2 different types? Like: does one have more sweetness or more tart?
Can you talk about how you decide to select varieties? Honey berries but in general. With an annual, if I don’t like it then I don’t grow it again, but I find variety selection so daunting with shrubs and trees. Reading catalogs just isn’t that helpful for me. How do you go about it?
I've been wondering this too. There are somewhat conflicting, incomplete charts of sweetness and tartness. Some varieties have been developed since Angela's were planted. Newer varieties seem to be prioritizing sweetness and fresh eating. Brix (sugar content) tests can help, but they're not perfect substitutes for taste tests.
I've had some older more tart varieties mixed with the new berries unlimited varieties (love honeyberry website has some charts/tables to compare what's sweet vs tart) the sweet ones from berries unlimited are delicious when ripe nowhere near as tart as old varieties - worth it!!
@@JRoadzReegz Can I ask what newer varieties you have? I think I've been considering Giant's Heart and Boreal Blizzard for Colorado. I have it written down somewhere.
@@JRoadzReegz Thanks. I think I looked at those. I think they bloom too early for my area unfortunately. Still, it's good info if I ever live somewhere else. I'm glad to know the varieties which are supposed to be sweeter actually are.
flowering times, and harvest times, of different varieties of haskap vary from extremely early to rather late. if yours are ripe in May they are early (like aurora and Borealis and etc) also different varieties have somewhat different flavors... i have auroroa and borealis, and am getting blizzard (intermediate) and beauty and beast (mid and late)
Do your honeyberry leaves smell a bit like sage? I was just given a honeyberry bush and as I set to work cleaning up the broken branches, I noticed that it smells a bit like a mix of sage and basil, and something else I can't quite identify. I can't find anything online about if the leaves are supposed to smell like this. I'm wondering if maybe I received a sage plant instead. The bush doesn't have any flowers or berries on it, and since you say that the berries are ripe in late May/early June, I am really wondering if what I've got is a honeyberry at all.
I find them to be very slow growing! I planted them 4 years ago as a very small plant and they have not grown much. They are about a foot tall. They have bloomed 2 years now but no berries. Any tips?
Berries unlimited owns a bunch of much sweeter and larger haskap strains. Where are yours from? Im gonna order some from berries unlimited and hope for sweeter berries. Ive nvr had hascaps b4.