First harvest done by Necessity

Well we spent yesterday morning harvesting what berries were left by the birds on my 2 year old nursery of assorted seedlings from Russian and Kuril source plants Blue Velvet and a Russian cross. Production and flavor varied by plant which is what you hope to find in a seedling population. Some of the Blue Velvet seedlings were very good producers (contrary to what I have heard about the parent Blue Velvet) although the flavors are not good as we are about 6 to 10 days early harvesting indicated by the tartness and greenish flesh. I just wanted to get a sample from each plant so we could move the fencing to the Japanese nursery to protect them. The birds were already into the early plants there!
Here are some pictures taken of the Brix numbers from the Blue Velvet Group, Russian Group, Assorted checks (Early named varieties) and a winning Russian seedling with great flavor and fairly good production. Fruit were crushed with a soup spoon in a small bowl and then press filtered through a #2 cone coffee filter. A lot of piddly work but serves to give a base for the future. Japanese harvest in about 12 to 15 days. Many green berries as yet.
Blue Velvet GR1










S984 Russian GR1









Check group










Russian #51

Harvest and Fruit Evaluation this week

Well the first crop of Russian based fruit is nearly ready to harvest so this week we will pick fruit and take pictures. The Robins and Cedar Waxwings are really enjoying the fruit but I just am not finding the energy to finish the netting. As well, the Japanese planting is really loaded and is more important to me at this time.

One of the interesting things growing from one plant is the chimera coloring on several shoots. Here are some leaves. I have set some semi hardwood cuttings today and hope they will root.

So far the flavor of the Russian fruit is not pleasant to the taste. I am hoping this will change but we do not have heat. We have also been short of rain so maybe that will be a contributing factor. I do know from working with Malting Barley that the uptake and expression of the polyphenols which give the dark color is enhanced by cool weather.

Unusaual Leaves and fruit setting

Fruit is setting and coloring up very well so now the bird net is going up as well! Here is a picture of a plant with what appears to be chimera coloring taking place. I hope to take cuttings this week and regrow these for next year.

Scientific study and more

As the Blue Honeysuckles are forming on the plants, my mind is forming questions which beg an answer!
1) Can Lonicera caerulea L. (and the variants or subspecies) be crossed with another Lonicera such as Zabelii to get red flowers? And not bring along the toxic quality of Zabelli!

2) Will the market in Canada get a chance to experience Edible Blue Honeysuckle as a fruit, juice, or preserve? Most effort is turned to getting into the Japanese market and it seems to me there is a great market waiting for a high antioxidant fruit juice which does not necessarily need good flavour; good flavour would be a plus of course!

3) Who will monitor the nursery trades to be sure what gets sold will actually be Haskap or Edible Blue Honeysuckle? As to breeders getting their money out of Royalties - if you don't have money to back your claim, propagators will just do it and not pay. Case in point is my friend Stan Zubrowski who registered his Clematis "Joe Zary" with the Canadian Ornamental Plant Foundation but could not afford to keep up the registration and now receives nothing for all the plants being sold!

4) Where are the good resources which help in the understanding of the different species of Edible Blue Honeysuckle? Here is a good one to start. Biologija 2007

5) Why is it that the robins are there when the fruit is turning blue and you don't have netting up yet?

If you dropped by to read this, hope your crop of Blue Honeysuckles, whatever you are calling them, is growing and will be a sweet harvest!!

Seedlings

Well the seedlings are continuing to grow and soon they can be outside. The weather is just a little on the cold side at night but it is getting better every day. I built a new holding tray as I use 3 inch and 4 inch pots to grow seedlings on. This is some aluminum soffit sheeting in a 2 x 4 frame. Good drainage and above the ground so air will prune the roots. And the only pollinators I am seeing so far are the wild bumblebees.

On another topic is seems some Nurseries are selling Sweetberry Honeysuckle only and I think people are confusing it with the good edible varieties. Not good for Blue Honeysuckle marketing!
There has been some disappointment with some seed germination of honeysuckle seed received over the winter. I am not sure if I did something wrong or the seed was not good. Hopfully there will still be a few new plants show up.

Blue Honeysuckle Registry from 2006

In looking for names of Blue Honeysuckle selections which have been renamed to North American marketed names, I came across this Register of New Fruit and Nut Cultivars 2006 on the American Pomological Society web site. This is a great resource and very helpful.

So far I have found the following list of renamed varieties:

Blue Belle	Tomichka
Blue Velvet	Kiev # 8
Berry Blue	Czech # 17
Blue Lightening	Zarnista
Blue Bird	Sinyaya Pititsin
Blue Nova	Novinka
Cinderella	Zolushka
Blue Moon	Sergei
Blue Forest	Magadan
Blue Pacific	F-1-9-58
Blue Sky	Valery No. 2
Smokey Blue	Dimka

Another resource of value from the AgroAtlas.
A little more investigation is necessary. My speculation is that some of the varieties being marketed by some nursery/seedhouses are simply some of these older named Russian and Czech varieties given new names for marketing.

If you are visiting and have other name change information, please leave a comment with source if you can.

Honeysuckle are starting to bloom

I am working on this little greenhouse with the hope of still getting some things started here this spring. Finished putting it together and it looks ok.






Now just to find a good heater as the weather is so cold.

Found the first blossoms on Blue Honeysuckle on Wednesday. Many more plants are showing signs of blooming and will in the next few weeks.