new fruit

[ladbrokes]

hello charles,

do you have any experience of growing honeyberries and crowberries

[charles]

Now I wonder if you received the same DT Brown catalogue I saw them in yesterday? Actually I planted honeyberries three years ago and am still waiting for some fruit; they are related to honeysuckle and you need enough space to grow two plants for pollination.  My aronias are also small and have not fruited yet.
Crowberries (camerines) grow tall but need acid soil so I am giving them a miss. The catalogue has wonderful, tempting photos but do read the small print carefully, http://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk.

Also three years ago I planted saskatoons, supposedly like blueberries but tolerant of limey soil. They are not growing well!
And I ordered (from DT Brown) some Orange Paruche tomatoes, claimed to be sweeter than Sungold, has anybody grown them before?

[ladbrokes]

guilty as charged im afraid. it did look tempting to try the new fruits. if a man as dedictaed is struggling to get any success im up against it then

[Rocket Science]

Not tried Orange Paruche, but did grow Golden Cherry from Tozers last year and they are my new favourite cherry Tomato. Amazing burst in your mouth flavour, which beats sungold and look great on the plate with Black Cherry. Got seeds from Plants of Distinction this year.

[bluebell]

I just invested in 2 honeyberry plants and was a little surprised that they have flowered already this year. Have yours got that far? I have been told that the birds adore them so I will be keeping an eye to make sure I get the netting on first.

[victoria fisher]

Does anyone have experience with growing Goji berries? I was wondering especially about flowering / fruiting time and pruning. My bushes are about 3 years old now and last year had quite a decent crop but they flowered late in the summer and it took ages then to ripen. I also found the taste rather disappointing, quite bitter.

[charles]

 Hello Victoria, I did try goji once and it barely grew, the plant was poor to start with. I suspect it is marginal for the British climate but am happy to be wrong on that. Traditional currants yield more fruit, but in fact one of my blackcurrants has succumbed this spring to big bud mite, is making almost no growth and may have to be burnt; the last two years it gave 7kg fruit.

Meanwhile the small honeyberries, in their third spring, are flowering and I hope for just a few fruit, am ready with a net like you Bluebell. We need some sun before all that can happen.

[victoria fisher]

Thanks Charles! Well, my plants were growing very well once they got established until I dug them up earlier this year when I moved to a new allotment. They had even multiplied and I ended up with 3 more plants to the 3 I had started with. They are still in pots and look like they have survived the trauma of being uprooted very well – in full leave again. I did cut them back quite hard and have added some RootGrow (which I can recommend!) to the compost.
I’ll try the honeyberries once I’ve got my new allotment more sorted…

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