New seedlings coming

There are a good number of new baby honeysuckles coming up now so here are a couple of pictures. Some pellets have 2 seedlings so I am trying to cut them in half and get both plants to grow. I soaked some more pellets and cut them in half and put each half with a half of the seedling pellet each with a plant. Sounds complicated but I will do some again and posy a picture. Anyway it is good to see some germination as one never is sure until they begin to grow.

Finally an update!

Well it is planting time for Lonicera Blue honeysuckle seeds here in Saskatchewan. I was fortunate to gather seeds from several sources this summer and now in winter and so have planted several batches with some treatment of seeds to see if there are any benefits. Seed sources are:
One of my Japanese seedlings SAP30-06 which seems to have good flavour;

"Big shrubs" seeds from a friend in Poland;
"Big Berries" seed from a friend in Poland. (He is also working on selecting some good quality plants.)
Also seeds from a gardener in Sweden:

Lonicera kamchatika(bought at Simzas Nursery in Latvia);
Sinnaya Ptitsa ?(Bluebird) also from the same nursery; (identity may be questionable),
Lonicera "Amfora" and others.

So this will make for a diversity of plant material to put out this spring.

The first round of planting was in peat pellets. There seems to be some "offensive" growth starting so I am going to give them a sprinkle of No-Damp or something to prevent fungus growth. I have been disappointed in the past with Jiffy pellets getting so much other growth coming before the seeds germinate. I have covered the tray with another tray to cut down the light but still there are a couple with something starting as in the picture here.

I would really like to find someone who could supply a few seeds of a good selection in Northern China as there seems to be a number of advertisements from China for the juice as a good source of antioxidants. Anyone out there know someone who might know someone?

The plan is to get the seedlings up to 12 to 15 inches for planting in mid to late June.

Late bloomers and fruit

Two seedlings had late blossoms and one had fruit and here it is September 25. The fruit tasted good so I could not go back and get a better picture (this one is slightly out of focus)

And the berries became

A deep fried wonder!

We also had a pie and some fresh jam. They all passed the taste test. Slightly tart but very good flavor!

Last harvest taken and new seedlings are planted

Last of the new seedlings have been planted out and for the most part they look healthy. The wind was pretty hard on a couple and they broke off so I am trying to regrow them from cuttings.

I harvested the last of the Japanese planting and got about a litre and a little bit. Several plants have caught my eye and the fruit looks good. One is more rounded and the other tends to be large and shaped like a squished heart.

The enclosure

9 ft. bamboo poles hold up the "Deer fence" from Lee Valley to help keep the robins and Cedar Waxwings from eating the berries.

We got about 3.5 litres of berries from the first round of picking and there will be a small second round.

Several plants seem quite late as they still have green berries. Here are a few samples. The light was fading so the contrasting colors are poor.

It has been a long time but!

Just a few notes about how things are going.

Nearly all the Japanese plants had fruit this year. Some with very good size berries. Flavour is tending to be sharp but not bitter. Fruit set was limited and I am sure it was from lack of pollinators. The first picking of a serious nature was yesterday July 7th. Still a few to come and some plants with no ripe fruit. One plant in particular has very large fruit and another has a more rounded fruit.

I also have about 60 plants from Polish and Russian sources to plant out this summer. I find the seedlings tend to be very hardy all around. Looking forward to the planting.