Saskatoons

[SilverDoctor]

Anyone know the best place to source about a half dozen local Saskatoon bushes? Want to plant some in the yard. Was thinking of the Saskatoon Farm but they sell out quick. Would rather have locally grown instead of imports.

[MMAX]

Know where there's a ton of wild ones.....pm me.

[jasonvilly]

Picked up a plant last week from Saskatoon farm. $50 for a 2 year old bush.

 

Another option is the honey berry plant. Very hardy and tasty. They had 1 year old plants for $25. Just make sure to get two different species so that they can cross pollinate and give you berries.

 

They had plenty of both last weekend.

[northfork]

^ this. BiggyJ hit it on the head. Get two different subspecies and you are set.

[scel]

Do you really want local?

 

Do you have a green thumb?

 

How much time are you willing to spend to perfect your saskatoon patch? I bet you could grow the perfect patch in 7 years.

 

My partner is a botanist. She is hardcore---there is not much that she does not grow from seed. When she finds a particularly tasty tomato, she extracts a few seeds and grows them for the next year. Results vary because tomatoes are not native---saskatoons, however, are native. The soil on your land is probably ideal for saskatoons, especially if you have the wherewithal to properly prepare and sanitize the growing area.

 

The seeds from an apple tree will produce wildly different tasting fruit from the parent. In fact, it is rare that the offspring fruit of an apple tree is tasty like the parent, which is why there are so few apple types. Some plants, like raspberries and saskatoons *TEND* to be much like the parent. (AHEM...read the addendum) This makes reproducing from seed a very feasible option.

 

Find your favourite saskatoon patch; one that you know produces large volumes of tasty fruit. This is hard science. You will have to eat a lot of saskatoons from various locations close to home. You know...for science.

 

Collect a bowl-full (500-750 ml) of saskatoon berries. Take half---freeze them (you will probably make a few errors in the first year). Take the other half, clean and prepare the seeds (link below will explain how to prepare the seeds). Keep the seeds in a cool, dry environment. Germinate the seeds in February for transplantation to permanent environment on May-long-weekend. Plant into half the growing area (the other half is for next year). It may take a couple of years for the plants to start fruiting. There will be some genetic variation, and you might have to cull a few plants because the fruit is not to par. Unlikely though. Have you ever eaten a saskatoon that you did not like? I haven't. So, if you cull, it is in search of perfection. If you eat all the fruit from a plant, the primary plant will eventually sucker to propagate (like raspberries)

 

If you make mistakes, you can prepare the seeds from frozen berries, but they will not have the same germination success, but you will be better at the plant science. There will diminishing return rates with your knowledge, so the fresh berries will eventually become more viable.

 

Here is exactly what you need to do:

http://www.prairie-elements.ca/saskatoon/3.1-propagation.pdf

It is very sciency, but Dr. St. Pierre does a good job explaining the germination and growing process of saskatoon bushes on the prairies/parkland.

 

Of course, there is bounty of skills that you will have to develop. Germination, soil chemistry, and horticulture are not simple skill sets to acquire, but they are logical and repeatable, so time and experience will pay dividends. And these skills are certainly easier than fly fishing.

 

Or, you could just buy some bushes.

 

ADDENDUM:
The apple trees that produced fruit that was too bitter to eat fresh were commonly used to create apple cider. Since then, however, apples have become somewhat a monoculture, so the table fruit also becomes cider. Saskatoon cider sounds delicious. Just sayin'.

[MMAX]

^ this. BiggyJ hit it on the head. Get two different subspecies and you are set.

Ahhh Honeyberries. They kick the crap out of Saskatoons any day. I built a patch in my yard 3 seasons ago with 5 different types and we end up with more fruit than we can eat ourselves. They aren't called the "Blueberry of the North" for nothing.

 

PS: My neighbor makes a kick ass honeyberry wine that you can drink like Kool Aid.

[troutlover]

do honey berries have the seeds like sakatoons do? the only reason I don't eat sakatoons is all the seeds.

[MMAX]

do honey berries have the seeds like sakatoons do? the only reason I don't eat sakatoons is all the seeds.

No, almost identical to a blueberry in flavor and texture.

[bcubed]

Anyone had any luck with translocating wild blueberries? I've found one heck of a patch, and it's going to be wiped out by development... Think I've got an ideal spot in my backyard.

[troutlover]

its hard to do. Try to get as much of the root ball as possible. Soak the roots in a bucket of water for a few hours before you plant them. Dig your hole put a few handfuls of saw dust in the hole (For some reason blueberry's love the saw dust). put 4 inches of dirt over the dust scatter in some mykes root fertilizer also sprinkle some directly on the roots you can get it at any garden centre. Plant your bush. Make sure you match the same conditions they are currently in. Take a scoop of the dirt they are in now and if it has a lot of clay or sand you might need to add a few bags to the area where you are going to plant them. I wouldn't fertilize them because it is late season and you don't want to promote new growth. There are late season fertilizers you can use. I would talk to someone at a garden centre but carful a lot of the employees at garden centres have no clue what they are talking about. make sure you water a bunch keep the soil wet.

[SilverDoctor]

Anyone had any luck with translocating wild blueberries? I've found one heck of a patch, and it's going to be wiped out by development... Think I've got an ideal spot in my backyard.

Just dig em up and plant them. They grow wild. If there are any let over let me know.

[scel]

Anyone had any luck with translocating wild blueberries? I've found one heck of a patch, and it's going to be wiped out by development... Think I've got an ideal spot in my backyard.

 

I would double check if they are blueberries. Bilberries and blueberries are very similar in shape and taste (bilberries are a little smaller). You can tell the difference by the fruiting pattern. Blueberries fruit in clumps. Bilberries fruit in singles or pairs.

 

Bilberries are amazingly tasty and grow wild almost everywhere above the 45th parallel. Unfortunately, they do not easily domesticate. Unless you were an expert horticulturist, they would not be worth your time.

Blueberries are hardy, and they are easily domesticated, but they are not common in the west. It is certainly possible though.

 

Bilberry:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Bieszczady_Flora.jpg

 

Blueberry:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O70AhKPBOys/UhjYpBdHbxI/AAAAAAAAEMo/TqROy9zmPF8/s640/afin_planta_ornamentala_vaccinium_arbust_fructifer_3.jpg

[bcubed]

ya they're blueberries. I was out with a bunch of vegetation ecologists who were identifying rare plants..planted some yesterday, just in time for the snow

[Hawgstoppah]

this has been one of the most informative posts I have ever read anywhere on any topic. I also now realize why my 2 lonely Saskatoon plants are not fairing so well at year 5. Time to restart over again, there are lots of places to get them from around here

[SilverDoctor]

My only 5 year old Saskatoon bush has been flattened by snow. Cleaned it off this AM but it doesn't look good.

[ginger]

SCEL: This is fantastic info. Are Bilberries what we commonly(incorrectly?) call Huckleberries? Thanks.

[scel]

SCEL: This is fantastic info. Are Bilberries what we commonly(incorrectly?) call Huckleberries? Thanks.

 

I am not 100% sure. My spouse is the botanist---I will ask her when she returns. I think that you are right though. It doubt that it would be incorrect to call them huckleberries. I'd wager they have multiple names.