Honeyberry

Plant in fall, and plant a compatible partner or get nothing

Fall is the best time to plant honeyberry, though dormant spring plantings also take. Set plants 3 to 4 feet apart in the row and 6 to 10 feet between rows, in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Plant at least two cultivars that are genetically unrelated to each other and that bloom at the same time; Tundra, Borealis, Indigo Gem, Blue Lightning and Kamchatka are all offered as garden choices. Confirm the specific pairing with your nursery or supplier, since compatibility depends on parentage and on overlapping bloom. Haskaps are self-incompatible: a lone bush, or two bushes whose bloom windows miss each other, will flower beautifully and set almost no fruit. The pollen has to come from a genetically unrelated plant shedding at the same moment.

Deep water every 5 to 7 days while plants establish

Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged, especially in the first years. Water deeply every 5 to 7 days rather than lightly and often. Drip irrigation is particularly effective. Established plants need it less frequently. Honeyberry roots are shallow and the plant tolerates wet ground better than drought, so the establishment years are when a dry spell costs you the plant. Deep, spaced watering pulls roots down instead of holding them at the surface.

One spring feeding, and nothing after that

Apply about a half cup per plant of a balanced fertilizer such as 16-16-16 in spring, spread around the plant and watered in. That is the entire year's feeding. Compost or well-rotted manure worked around the base each spring does the same job. Honeyberry is a light feeder that fruits well on very little. The one real hazard is nitrogen: fed late, the bush pushes soft new growth that has no time to harden before cold arrives.

⚠ Do not apply nitrogen after spring - rapid late-season growth makes the plant markedly more susceptible to winter injury.

Dormant pruning: thin the oldest wood, never more than a quarter

In late winter, while the bush is still fully dormant and before any bud movement, cut out dead and damaged branches. Once plants pass three or four years old, also thin out the oldest branches at the base to open the center, and remove low branches that would droop into the dirt. Do not take more than 25 percent of the plant in any one year. Honeyberry breaks dormancy very early, so err toward the early side of your local dormant window rather than the late side. Fruit comes on younger wood, and the oldest branches shade the middle of the bush while holding in the damp air that powdery mildew needs. Honeyberry is among the first plants to break dormancy in spring, so a late cut catches the bush already moving.

Honeysuckle moth: open the webbed shoot tips by hand

As the new shoots push out after bloom, look for leaf shoots tied shut with silk webbing. Pull the webbed shoots open and pick out the caterpillars inside. No spray is needed or recommended for this pest on honeyberry. Honeysuckle moth caterpillars bind the growing tips with silk and feed inside the shelter, where a spray would not reach them anyway. Hand removal at the webbing stage is the remedy extension actually gives.

⚠ Reported mainly from Southcentral Alaska - treat this as a look, not a given, elsewhere.

Powdery mildew: manage it by air, not by spray

Check leaves through summer, especially after harvest, for the white dusty coating of powdery mildew. Manage it by choosing resistant cultivars such as Tundra and by opening the bush up so air moves through it. Indigo Gem is somewhat susceptible. Also site plants away from drying summer wind and hard late-afternoon sun, which causes sunscald. Powdery mildew arrives late in honeyberry's year, after the fruit is already picked, so it costs the current crop little and rarely justifies a fungicide. Crowded, still air inside an unpruned bush is what lets it take hold.

Net the bushes the moment fruit starts to color

As soon as the berries become visible and begin turning blue, cover the plants with bird netting, either floated over the bushes or mounted on poles so you can still walk in and pick. Use netting with a mesh of one-half inch or smaller. Birds, cedar waxwings above all, strip honeyberries before the fruit is even ripe, and honeyberry colors up blue a week or more ahead of true ripeness. That leaves a long window where the crop looks finished to a bird and you are still waiting. Netting on after the birds find the patch is netting on too late.

⚠ Mesh larger than one-half inch lets birds through and defeats the purpose.

Blue on the outside is not ripe: cut one open first

Wait 5 to 10 days after the berries first turn blue on the outside before you pick. Cut a berry open to check: it should be fully colored through, with no green remaining near the center. If the flesh is still green or pale inside, give it several more days. Expect 5 to 10 pounds or more from a mature plant, and a short picking window per variety. Honeyberry skin colors up well before the flesh finishes ripening, so the bush looks ready one to two weeks early. Berries picked at the blue-skin stage are sour and astringent, and this single mistake is why most first-time growers conclude they do not like the fruit.