Anyone growing Haskap berries (aka honeysuckle)?

Hey everyone,

I've been looking for a hardy berry to grow up north and stumbled across the Haskap honeysuckle. For those that don't know it looks like a huge blueberry but has its own unique and apparently amazing taste. Also easy to grow, producing 11-15 lbs of berries per plant, makes excellent wine and beer, and also great for eating. Sounds like the perfect plant for me! Apparently the best ones to get are the Borealis and its pollinator plant Aurora (think northern lights).

Just wondering if anyone has experience growing these and using them in wine. They're a relatively new cross between Russian and Japanese plants, with new varieties coming out every couple years. I found some information put out by the breeders:

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/Documents/Haskap/AuroraBorealisArticle.pdf
http://www.fruit.usask.ca/articles/growinghaskapinCanada.pdf

I've got 4 haskap bushes growing in 18 gallon tubs. Two "Tundra" & two "Borealis." I bought them as 1 gallon size plants & have had them 2 years. Not many berries yet, but each year there are more. Actually noticed a couple of ripe looking berries on 1 bush yesterday while watering. The rest still have tiny green berries. Maybe in a couple of years I'll have enough of a crop to do something with. I'll have to admit though, I've spent some time just sitting next to them, watching the bumblebees work over the blossoms; fascinating creatures, bumbles.

Keep an eye out for aphids, I've got a small infestation on 1 bush, released some ladybugs 2 weeks ago, I'll be releasing more this weekend; hopefully they'll do the trick. You might want to give your new plants a boost with this:
http://www.penningtonfertilizer.com/products/lm-vita-start

Stimulates root growth, helps prevent transplant shock, safe for use on plants for human consumption, plus a mild fert. I also mixed worm castings & rabbit dung into the soil, plants love it. I've got my haskap on the east side of the house, they get full sun from dawn to about 2pm. I had them on the south side for a while, but I noticed there were quite a few sunburned leaves in full summer. With the exception of the aphids & hungry deer, they're doing great.
Hope yours do at least as well as mine.
Regards, GF.

Thanks for the feedback gratus. I ended up getting one Aurora and one Borealis in 2 gallon size. Both were already fruiting, so I'll get to taste some a few weeks from now. Thanks for the fertilizer link. I ended up using the Miracle Grow organic fertilizer the nursery had on hand (for better or worse). It says its good for edibles. :/ I mixed a good helping of compost in there as well, so I'm hoping the plants take quickly.

I have mine facing south, but I'm a fair bit north of you in Edmonton. They will get full sun except for about 1.5 hours in early afternoon due to the massive spruce I have off to the side.

It sounds like you're having success with the Borealis/Tundra combo, though I read on the breeder's site that Tundra isn't a good pollinator for Borealis. Aurora or Honeybee are recommended. Perhaps one of these would help boost production...

Table at bottom of page... http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

Sounds like your haskap are off to a good start. I've got the Borealis/Tundra combo cuz that's all that was available in my area at the time. I'd like to get a couple more bushes, (different cultivars) but I'm running out of room. I've got a few ripening berries already; tasted one yesterday, even though it looked ripe, it wasn't quite ready yet. I'm hoping harvest won't be a guessing game when it comes to ripeness. Unripe haskap are rather astringent.
Regards, GF.

We have them growing in Southern Alberta. A few purple fruit already, second year planted. I think they would make an amazing wine (great on ice cream). Only problem with them is they don't like hot weather, I know they grow them with great success in the Yukon though so very cold hardy. Should grow great in Edmonton. I think its borderline climate wise where we are, they looked sad during the peak of the summer last year. A friend picked about 50 pounds in a few hours up north, they can really produce! Great juice color as well, stains everything.

When I was planting last weekend I noticed darker spots on a few leaves... sunburn perhaps? I'm hoping the hour or two of shade from the spruce tree will give the right amount of exposure. Worst case scenario, I could move them next year to the east or west side along the fence line.

I have a Blue Sky Honeyberry/Haskap (link) planted in back for four years now. They are somewhat self-pollinating, but yields increase with cross pollination. In my opinion (with this particular variety), these are not very rewarding when eating fresh as they tend to be very tart until the day they drop or the birds get them. I would say that 1 out of 8 berries eaten will be "not tart" and maybe even "very lightly sweet' with a subtle flavor reminiscent of blueberry, but when they're tart they just tend to be "tart berry" flavored . I don't hate it but I don't love it either. I haven't ripped it from the ground but I'm not overly concerned about it's future.

Other fruits that you might look into are goumi berries, cornelian cherries, hardy kiwis, arctic kiwis, and many variety of table and wine grapes (particularly those from the University of Minnesota) that are hardy to -30 to -40F.

stpug said:

I have a Blue Sky Honeyberry/Haskap (link) planted in back for four years now. They are somewhat self-pollinating, but yields increase with cross pollination. In my opinion (with this particular variety), these are not very rewarding when eating fresh as they tend to be very tart until the day they drop or the birds get them. I would say that 1 out of 8 berries eaten will be "not tart" and maybe even "very lightly sweet' with a subtle flavor reminiscent of blueberry, but when they're tart they just tend to be "tart berry" flavored . I don't hate it but I don't love it either. I haven't ripped it from the ground but I'm not overly concerned about it's future.

Other fruits that you might look into are goumi berries, cornelian cherries, hardy kiwis, arctic kiwis, and many variety of table and wine grapes (particularly those from the University of Minnesota) that are hardy to -30 to -40F.

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Maybe it's just your variety but otherwise make sure you wait long enough for them to properly ripen. They should be purple for a few weeks and when ripe they are purple all the way through and extremely flavorful. They taste kind of like concentrated raspberry blueberry juice when ripe, just a bit tart but in a good way. Since posting a few hours ago the magpies discovered my patch, it would seem as though bird netting will be necessary to get any in the future. They ate over half the green ones as well, I should have got netting up sooner! I was really hoping to try a test batch of wine this year but looks like that will be a stretch now.

Other berries to consider are sour cherries. The Evans (small tree) and University of Saskatoon varieties (some tree, some shrub) are awesome and produce a ton of fruit. Ours failed last year (late frost) but we harvested 60 lbs from 2 trees in 2013.

AlbertaGuy said:

Maybe it's just your variety but otherwise make sure you wait long enough for them to properly ripen. They should be purple for a few weeks and when ripe they are purple all the way through and extremely flavorful. They taste kind of like concentrated raspberry blueberry juice when ripe, just a bit tart but in a good way. Since posting a few hours ago the magpies discovered my patch, it would seem as though bird netting will be necessary to get any in the future. They ate over half the green ones as well, I should have got netting up sooner! I was really hoping to try a test batch of wine this year but looks like that will be a stretch now.

Other berries to consider are sour cherries. The Evans (small tree) and University of Saskatoon varieties (some tree, some shrub) are awesome and produce a ton of fruit. Ours failed last year (late frost) but we harvested 60 lbs from 2 trees in 2013.

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I'd say I've eaten them in various stages of "readiness" and the best stage I found for them is when they are just starting to lose some moisture (i.e. wrinkle, shrivel, etc). They are then nice eating - if only half the size of a peanut. Perhaps it's my variety? My friend just planted two different varieties last year so I'm waiting to try some of his to get a better impression of them as a whole. The birds are certainly bothersome to these berries. They must love the dark purple color because they've nailed the top half of my bush too.

The Northstar Tart Cherry is a nice dwarf fruit tree that is cold hardy as well - I have one in my front yard. They only grow about 6-8 feet tall and don't produce like a montmorency, but certainly enough for my tastes. Birds are a HUGE problem with this tree. I'm prepared with netting this year! I'm hoping to use some of the cherries this year for a kreik but with the late snowfall here most of the fruit trees lost a good percentage of their crop.

I have three different varieties of those, but they are in partial shade and don't bear very heavily. Tasty fruit, though!

I'm quite pleased each plant has a handful of berries growing on them in the first year. They're quite tart yet, but I understand these varieties are supposed to sweeten over the next few weeks. I'm thinking it'd be nice to try brewing a haskap/honeyberry saison next year (if I get more fruit).

stpug said:

I have a Blue Sky Honeyberry/Haskap (link)

Other fruits that you might look into are goumi berries, cornelian cherries, hardy kiwis, arctic kiwis, and many variety of table and wine grapes (particularly those from the University of Minnesota) that are hardy to -30 to -40F.

Click to expand...

Does anyone have experience brewing with these? I've been growing a couple bushes of honeyberry, goumi berry, aronia, seaberry, elderberry, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, cornelian cherry, rose hip, fig, paw paw, quince.

The cornelian cherries, gooseberries, seaberries, goumi and aronia are all particularly productive for me. I'd like to start incorporating all of them into more recipes. I recently pitched 1 lb of pureed cornals into 5 gallon of heavily lacto soured weisse but I'm not certain it was enough. The cornals can have quite a strong flavor even a little tannic/astringent when unripe. Haven't tried it yet but I'm optimistic.

SteveH43055 said:

Does anyone have experience brewing with these? I've been growing a couple bushes of honeyberry, goumi berry, aronia, seaberry, elderberry, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, cornelian cherry, rose hip, fig, paw paw, quince.

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Heh, this sounds like me! I've got figs, gooseberries, apples, strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, honeyberries, raspberries, apples, pears, plums, cherries, quinces, and I'm just getting started -- all on my very urban 8000 sq ft lot. I have about 30 grafting projects going in the back, all weird heirloom pome and stone fruits. Not really enough of anything to brew with yet apart from a few gallon batches of wine.

SteveH43055 said:

Does anyone have experience brewing with these? I've been growing a couple bushes of honeyberry, goumi berry, aronia, seaberry, elderberry, currants, gooseberries, rhubarb, cornelian cherry, rose hip, fig, paw paw, quince.

The cornelian cherries, gooseberries, seaberries, goumi and aronia are all particularly productive for me. I'd like to start incorporating all of them into more recipes. I recently pitched 1 lb of pureed cornals into 5 gallon of heavily lacto soured weisse but I'm not certain it was enough. The cornals can have quite a strong flavor even a little tannic/astringent when unripe. Haven't tried it yet but I'm optimistic.

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Aronia juice when mixed 50/50 with concorde grape juice is pretty tasty IMHO, I have a 3 gallon batch aging now. Albertaguy made some seaberry wine a while back:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=463661

Elderberry makes a good wine, as does black currant. Goose berries & cherry can make good wines & can be used in ales too. I've seen rose hips added to mead & fig can make a good wine or mead, There's a brewery here that makes a Belgian ale with figs & it's really AWESOME.

I've never even seen a paw paw, but it wouldn't surprise me if somebody has made it into wine. I've heard of quince used in fermentations, but I've never tried it; they make a tasty jam though.
Regards, GF.

Mahonia berries are edible, anyone make wine from them? or myrtle berries?
I first read about these honeysuckle berries (haskap) many Years ago, it's interesting that the plants are widely available. Now I just have to wait till they are available in Australia.

Sounds very interesting, worth looking into I think. Thanks for the headsup.

gregbathurst said:

Mahonia berries are edible, anyone make wine from them? or myrtle berries?
I first read about these honeysuckle berries (haskap) many Years ago, it's interesting that the plants are widely available. Now I just have to wait till they are available in Australia.

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Unfortunately haskap is suited for cool climates (Canada, Northern US, Russia) so they may not do well in Oz. Even here in Canada, we've had a hot enough summer to give my haskaps a serious case of sunburn.

Anybody have any new experience with haskap berries? Mine are entering year two of growth and i'm hoping to have enough to at least do a test batch of beer (or maybe wine). These things have a lot of potential in the north - huge yield suited to cooler climates, excellent flavor with new varieties and a very robust plant. They say it makes a darn good red wine too.

I'm thinking about getting in touch with the U of S breeder to see if they're interested in inputting on some exbeerinments and such. From their website they're really trying to promote these things, so maybe they'd be interested in talking with folks here on HBT (not sure what you think @yooper ). I sense a winner with this fruit. BTW - not affiliated with haskap breeders/suppliers in any way. Just an avid homebrewer.

I've had 3 haskap going for maybe 4 years and they still not very large bushes and can't say I get enough fruit to do anything with but snack.
The cornelian cherries I've used in a few beers and spirits to mediocre result so far. The gooseberries came out well as beer or wine and I make a point to brew several paw paw beers a year but it can be tricky to brew with.

Well I'm entering my 3rd growing season with the haskaps I planted in Spring 2015. They're not much bigger than when I planted them unfortunately. Hoping they pick up this year, but if not I'm going to relocate them to a mixed sun/shade area. They currently get full southern exposure and I think it's a bit much for them, even in zone 3-4.

Last year I was able to get four 1 gallon size Auroras to go with my 2 Tundra & 2 Borealis. The Auroras made a HUGE difference! Instead of a handful or 2, I got over 3 lbs. of fruit! Also, the Auroras bore fruit & had the tastiest of the 3 varieties I have. I don't think I'll get much fruit this year, as I'm transplanting them during the bloom, but next year they'll have been in the ground a year & should produce at least double, or triple the fruit they did last year.
Regards, GF.

Sounds like you're having more luck in Montana than I did in ohio but if you're getting that sort of yield, maybe I'll try again. I recently moved and left the bushes behind but I have new stuff on order. Going with aronia, gooseberries, elderberry, seaberry, black currant, quince, paw paw and Mt ash. That should get me started at least lol. I've had good results using all those ingredients in various beers now, save the mountain ash, that's a new one.

I found the following post online about haskaps. Interesting read, and includes a rather involved method for making haskap wine. I'm a beer brewer and not a winemaker (yet), but I'd like to give this a try this year as I should have enough berries to make at least a couple gallons. Any pointers on how to proceed are greatly appreciated.

http://www.dailyfruitwine.com/2016/01/all-about-haskap-fruit-wine-honeyberry/

I needed to replenish mulch under the haskaps this Spring, so I ended up using wood chips mixed with my spent brewing grains. I'm hoping this will help them rot down well and prevent nitrogen tie-up. That's the theory I'm going with anyway.

View attachment 1497218158410.jpg

Just planted 6 haskap bushes (tundra, borealis, indigo gem and honeyberry), all destined for a brew of some type. Mine are also south facing in full sun, hopefully its not too much for them. I may try and make a wine first, possibly a flavoured cider and definately going to try and jack them straight or add them to my applejack. Planted some cherries (romeo, valentine, carmine jewel, crimson passion), gooseberries, plums (brookgold, brookred, pembina) and pear tree aswell.

Well my poor haskaps languished for almost four years so last year I moved them to a new spot and took extra care to improve drainage in the soil. I have clay, and suspect that I didn't do a good enough job of amending the soil back in 2015.

As of June 2020, I still have my original two plants, Aurora and Borealis, which are doing better but still slow to fruit and they're not putting out a lot. I suspect that I need to cut back the old wood to encourage new growth.

Funnily enough, I picked up a cheapy 1 gallon Indigo Gem a while back for under $10 and it's out-performing the other two. It's still small yet, but it put out lots of large fruit. Conveniently, they are clustered in groups so I can pick by the handful, and the leaves on this variety hide the fruit from birds. I gathered 500 grams today, just over 1 lb from this plant. I expect it will do a lot more next year.

I guess I'll freeze these and wait to see if the other two plants put out any fruit, then make a test batch of haskap wine. If they don't produce, I'll supplement with some saskatoon berries I have coming ready.

Overall, mixed results to date. One doing stunningly well and the others on borrowed time if they don't respond to the replanting and an upcoming pruning. Good news is I hear there are a few more interesting varieties out there now they I can replace them with.