Problems growing honeyberries
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- Fledgling
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Jun 24th, 2005, 10:02 am
Problems growing honeyberries
Planted 3 honeyberry plants 3 years ago along with 3 blueberry plants.
http://www.albertahomegardening.com/int ... eyberries/
Honeyberry plants are relatively new to the scene. Wasn't until the University of Saskatchewan developed that Hakusp variant that they've become popular. I have no experience growing them.
Anyway, the plants have grown quite large and look very healthy. The bushes are now almost 6' high and 4' in diameter. BUT, I get almost no fruit out of them. The berries that do grow seem small and unhappy. I don't understand why. I did the research and bought 2 different varieties for proper pollination. No sprays are applied (organic), they're in a raised bed with good drainage.
By contrast, the 3 blueberry plants that are growing right beside the honeyberry plants (in the same raised bed) are much smaller and are growing a lot less vigorously (about 1/3rd the size of the honeyberry plants). But they're producing fruit quite nicely and if anything produce a lot more fruit than I'd expect based on the size of the plants.
Any ideas for why I'm not getting any fruit out of the honeyberry plants? I'm ready to rip them out and plant more blueberries in their place.
http://www.albertahomegardening.com/int ... eyberries/
Honeyberry plants are relatively new to the scene. Wasn't until the University of Saskatchewan developed that Hakusp variant that they've become popular. I have no experience growing them.
Anyway, the plants have grown quite large and look very healthy. The bushes are now almost 6' high and 4' in diameter. BUT, I get almost no fruit out of them. The berries that do grow seem small and unhappy. I don't understand why. I did the research and bought 2 different varieties for proper pollination. No sprays are applied (organic), they're in a raised bed with good drainage.
By contrast, the 3 blueberry plants that are growing right beside the honeyberry plants (in the same raised bed) are much smaller and are growing a lot less vigorously (about 1/3rd the size of the honeyberry plants). But they're producing fruit quite nicely and if anything produce a lot more fruit than I'd expect based on the size of the plants.
Any ideas for why I'm not getting any fruit out of the honeyberry plants? I'm ready to rip them out and plant more blueberries in their place.
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- A Peer of the Realm
- Posts: 21868
- Joined: Aug 2nd, 2005, 3:51 pm
Re: Problems growing honeyberries
Bman is probably the one to give you advice on this, but I will tell you what I have learned from that great gardener. Blueberries need acidic soil to thrive. My blueberries have been struggling along for a couple of years (and I've lost some). Now that I have a pH meter (suggestion from Bman) I can keep an eye on it and keep it in the right ranged. My honeyberries (haskaps) are 10 feet away and thriving. I didn't really get a good harvest until 4th year, and of the two bushes the smaller one produces nicer berries (not sure what varieties I got anymore - been a while). I do know that you won't get much for berries until 3rd or 4th year. So check the soil needs, get a ph meter and see what you've got. Other than that, make sure they have enough water and see what next year brings.
I haven't failed until I quit.
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- Mindquad
- Posts: 29026
- Joined: Mar 1st, 2008, 10:05 am
Re: Problems growing honeyberries
Can you post any pics of entire plants?
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