| Anthony, I am growing about 7 varieties of honeyberries as a "back yard" producer. I find them worthwhile and productive. One Green World divides their plants between early blooming and later blooming varieties. I have found that the early blooming ones bloom too early here (in zone 5) for there to be many pollinators around, so that crop is erratic. The later blooming ones produce reliable crops. As a rule, the birds do not seem to bother the fruit much here, as least so far, in part because the fruit is often hidden behind leaves. Fruit is earlier than my strawberries or blueberries and is one of the first fruit harvests for me. Due to having multiple types, I get a small harvest over a couple of months (I only have about a dozen plants, some small yet). Flavor varies between vars, but as long as allowed to properly ripen, is excellent. Ripe honeyberries tend to bleed for me after harvest, being softer and more delicate than a ripe blueberry. The fruit colors up about a month before I pick them. When starting out, I found it tempting to pick them too early and had to learn to wait for them. My plants do not seem to be sensitive to heat, taking 90+ without problems, unless they do not have adequate moisture. I have lost a few plants for forgetting to water, during August heat waves. I also have one plant that blooms in the fall and has set (and partially ripens) the occasional fall fruit. I would recomment giving them a try, but suggest you do a trial of the all the different kinds available to you, before investing in quantities of any single type. They do vary in size, flavor, weather tolerance, blooming/fruiting time, fruit size and texture and other features. Also as they are not self-pollinators, having a wide range of types gives better pollination results. John --- On Tue, 1/6/09, Anthony Curcio <apc@vassolinc.com> wrote: From: Anthony Curcio <apc@vassolinc.com> |
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