North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] Edible Honeysuckle

Dr. Thompson has been using material from all over the world.  Selections from Japan have been more useful in that they bloom a lot later than the Siberian ones commonly sold.  And since the work is being done in Corvallis, Oregon, the best selections are automatically suited for the NW.  Which doesn't mean they won't do well elsewhere, since they incorporate genes from many areas.
    One interesting note was that the Siberian material was more disease prone because it comes from a climate that is quite dry during the growing season.  A number of the Siberian plants I saw had disease, while the Japanese stock was generally quite healthy.  None of the material is sprayed, in order to allow evaluation for disease resistance.
    Given the variation in plants, there are certainly different races, if not different species, involved in the parentage.  Whether some of the material could be actually called different species would be up to a botanist.  There are a lot of differences in growth habit, time of bloom, leaf size, fruit size and shape,and more.
    So yes, this is material that will be able to grow in many areas.  How many will have to be determined by testing, which isn't going to happen much if there isn't enough support for the work.
> -Lon Rombough
>
> , What potential do these new selections have for mild climates, like the Pacific Northwest? Is the breeding work incorporating genes from other honeysuckle species, or is there enough variation within honeyberry to result in all the intersting traits you have seen developed? -Mark Lee, Seattle