Haskap Across the USA (based in part on this blog) was presented on July 20 at the 2012 U of S Haskap Day in Saskatoon, SK. Based on feedback from across the USA, scorching heat is hard (and sometimes deadly) on Borealis and Tundra haskap, but this is not reflected in the USDA plant zones. One grower is in zone 10b due to warm winter temps, but did not have the scorching summer heat that say OK, zone 7b, had last year.
It is possible to get berries without a non-related variety nearby for pollination, but the fruit will not be as plentiful or as large. Josh in KS (zone 5b) reported "The bad news is the Berry Blue never leafed out. The good is that I have 10 small berries on my Borealis."(Both bushes from year-old stock, planted end of March 2012)
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| Borealis blossoms in Kansas on year-old plant Apr 15, 2012 |
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| Borealis berry in Kansas on year-old plant May 15, 2012 |
The Berry Blue is doing very well since planting in April 2011. It's gotten much larger and is sprouting new growth. I'm guessing that the plant is about 18-24" tall now. It has not sprouted fruit, but I didn't necessarily expect that it would as I've only had both plants about 1-1/2 year. The Borealis is doing OK, but has barely grown at all and there's no new growth that I can see, possibly due to transplanting from my garden to the raised bed.
Both plants have developed an odd problem. All of the leaves other than the new growth on the Berry Blue is covered in what look like water spots but are the only leaves in the yard to display such markings, and I water under the foliage."
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| Two year old Borealis in CA, July 4, 2012 |
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| Spotting and drying edges on Borealis leaves in CA is not pretty but plant is surviving. Might want to check the spots for mycelium. July 4, 2012 |
