I’m looking to trade seeds from Honey Bunch and Sugar Pie haskap bushes. Seedlings grown from these will NOT be identical to their parent cultivars, but they may have traits similar to their parents. They’re open pollinated and pollen parents may include Strawberry Sensation, Blue Typhoon, Giant’s Heart, Honey Bunch, and Sugar Pie. All are late-ripening, sweet Japanese cultivars that have done pretty well for me in zone 7b (East TN) so far. The seeds have been kept moist since harvest, cleaned with 1:1 water:peroxide solution, float tested, and stored in the fridge.
For people unfamiliar with these parent cultivars, here are some notes from growing them in TN. Please keep in mind that seedlings may differ from their parents in any or all of these categories:
- Bloom times: HB blooms the first week of March and SP blooms the following week. Flowers of both varieties are frost resistant down to 20F.
- Harvest: HB harvest started on May 3, peaked on May 7, and was done by May 14. SP harvest started on May 7, peaked on May 20, and was done by May 25.
- Productivity: Total harvest for 1 HB bush this year was 605 grams or about 2 pints. Total harvest for 1 SP bush was slightly lower at around 500 grams or about 1.5 pints.
- Flavor: Both cultivars are tasty out of hand, with SP being slightly sweeter than HB. The flavor is a mix of blackberry, blueberry, and Jeanne gooseberry.
If you’re interested in growing out some new haskap cultivars that may do well in the upper limits of haskap range, please message me with a list of what you have to trade.
