Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Saskatchewan Goji and honeyberry seedlings

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Evelyn" <e.mellott@xplornet.ca>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Saskatchewan Goji and honeyberry seedlings
  • Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 21:53:30 -0600

Hi Sarah,
Just to confirm your thought on Honeberries not liking it inside. Kept a few inside over winter in a cold room and they did hold their own but nothing compared the the ones I planted outside last summer. I would not keep them inside for any lenght of time, they do like to be inside.
Evelyn
----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Kehler Ewing" <skkewing@yahoo.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 1:58 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Saskatchewan Goji and honeyberry seedlings


What happened during the downhill slide Matt? Cold, dry, disease, etc.

My seeds came from Jim Ternier of Prairie Garden Seeds and they came as a package of dry loose seeds. I grew some the first year and they were amazingly easy to deal with: no damping off and they grew to 12+" in the house. Anyway, I grew plants from the same seed package the next year and had the same stupendous germination and growth results in spite of the extra year of drying time.

To those pondering growing them this late in the year: my advice is to go for it! They get by with a minimal 4-6 week cold stratification (maybe they don't even need that) and they grow fast. Don't be discouraged by how small they start cuz they make up time in a hurry!
And they seem to be very tough little seedlings not bothered by damping off or deer or cold or late snow storms or anything else that has hit mine. The seedlings I planted out last spring hit 18-24" by fall.

On the other hand, honeyberries/haskap seedlings die with ease and take much coddling to even make it to 2"! The honeyberry seedlings that didn't damp off when I started them had barely made it to 2" when I finally gave up and planted them out last fall. But they are taking off this spring and most are already up to 4" in spite of the blizzard. I was afraid I would loose the honeyberry seedlings since they were so small and growing so slowly, but maybe they just didn't like being inside.

Sarah
zone 3
Edmonton, AB

In my experience, no need for
stratification. Apparently they don't
like drying out. Richters, from Canada, sent whole berries,
and
Horizon Herbs in the States will do the same i believe. I
extracted
the seeds by opening the berries, and got quick 90%
germination,
basically the same as if they were tomato seeds. They grew
fast in
pots the first year. Then they went downhill.

-matt
se MI z5










Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page