Sunday, May 26, 2013

Zone 5a, New Hampshire - Beautiful Borealis


Three year old Borealis haskap

All the bushes have berry clusters like this.

The honeyberries are doing great, we are going to have lots of berries this year from the look of things. I must admit when we first got them (April 2011) I was concerned with the size of the bushes, but just last year they must have grown 2 plus feet and are very full, amazing growth. 

They seem to grow well in the soil we have them in. We are lucky if we have 8- 12 inches of topsoil, the rest is sand underneath so it has very good drainage.  I also keep fish so since we planted them  I have been feeding them with water change water, which seems to help out quite a bit.

I may have to prune them back before too many more years. Looking forward to making some jelly this year with them.  Chris, Rochester, NH (May 26, 2013)

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Zone 5, Iowa - Borealis haskap rebounds after hot dry summer of 2012

Borealis survivor

Here is a picture of one of my 3 happy Borealis plants. It was quite miserable-looking after the drought last year, (see below) but it seems to have shrugged that stress off just fine. The Honey Bee was shipped late last year after it had broken dormancy. The shipping stress and the drought both likely contributed to its demise. Fred, IA (May 7, 2013)

Sept. 14, 2012: My 4 happy honeyberries have taken a turn for the worse. I believe they have leaf scorch caused by extended drought here in the Midwest (I am in Iowa City). Despite watering every 7-10 days, I think the months of zero rain and 90-100 degree weather was too much for them.

Please see the attached pictures. The leaves are dropping, but small new green leaves are emerging from branch tips. I do not know if they will survive. (to find out if they survived or not, see April 25, 2014 entry)


Leaf scorched haskap

Haskap leaf scorch front of leaf

Haskap leaf scorch back of leaf

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Haskap indoors - Svetlana Surprise

I brought in a potted Svetlana, last year's rooted cutting from a propagator in Canada, and it totally surprised me by leafing out and forming little buds all along its stem, all in just one week! Svetlana berries supposedly have a good taste and this week's experiment shows it is indeed very fast growing. Bernis, MN

Svetlana leafed out in one week and formed blossom buds along stem
Svetlana blossom buds on year old rooted cutting


Oct 1, 2012 Svetlana on right, Berry Blue on left, Riverbend Orchards, MB
Two year old Borealis and Tundra after 2.5 weeks indoors, no blossoms