Haskap Berry Growing Tips
They’re extremely hardy… a great plant for anywhere there is a cool climate
When we visited a number of growers in Canada to ask about their Haskap orchard, the common answer to our queries about growing them was ‘try killing them! They’re remarkably hardy.
Haskaps are regarded as having little susceptibility to fungi or insects – and of course no rust issues though we have experienced a minor problem with scale insects.
One item that is really pleasing…we have not had any evidence of them appealing to wallabies which comes as a relief because our area of Tasmania has an abundance of them.
Having said that we do know that wallabies have a tendency to change their preference from year to year. We have known them to not eat Agapanthus for years – then one year they did, and the following year they left them alone again.
In Canada, deer have been known to eat their leaves.
Environment
Haskaps are a long - lived shrub growing 1 -1.5ms high – similar to a blueberry. In row planting they should be planted 1 to 1.5 metres apart with rows 2-3 metres apart.
They have dense surface roots and mound planting is recommended especially in a locality likely to become rain sodden.
In terms of planting environment, Haskaps require a reasonable organic mulch and must be watered regularly in summer. The recommended organic content of the soil is 5-10%
Our orchard in early days… the hoops are for bird netting
They are more pH tolerant than blueberries and are reportedly easy to grow in soils ranging from 4.5 to 7.5.
It should be remembered that they are new to Australia, hence experiences are limited. We have not tried them in a wide range of pH levels as our property pH recordings are 6.3 – 6.9.
Early autumn sees them enter into quite an acute dormancy. They really look dead, yet bounce back in early spring with flowering well before they’re fully leaved.
The key point is that they do require a locality that has a cold winter with about 800 – 1200 chill factor hours. A chill factor hour is regarded as being below 7DegC.
Cross pollination essential
An important point to note is that Haskaps require two or more unrelated varieties to cross pollinate for fruit production.
In a garden environment mixing two or three varieties within a row is recommended whereas in a commercial environment, probably each row having a single variety or having two varieties in each row would be the way to go. A Canadian expert recommends having 4-6 varieties in a commercial orchard.
There is no separation of the sexes – the key to having fruit is simply to have a companion that blooms at the same time to provide cross pollination.
Haskaps develop an intense system of roots
Local or hive bees, bumble bees and other insects are enthusiastic for them. One concern is that they flower very early – often before the normal honeybee is active. In Tasmania the bumble bees do a great job and in warmer weather when the honeybee is active they can be seen absolutely loving them.
Pruning
No pruning is needed for young plants. Very little or no pruning is needed in the first 5 years – maybe just thin out some of the branches that are crossing.
By year 10 the less productive older branches could be removed to reduce density.
Pruning or tidying up is much less than for blueberries and grapes.
Productivity
Haskaps will fruit in their second year but nothing of significance until about 4 years.
A well-tended plant can be expected to be productive for about 30 years… there are some claims of up to 50 years.
The berries turn purple in November but should not be picked until the inside flesh and juice is purple and the Brix is in the region of 15. After turning purple it usually takes about 3 weeks before ready to harvest.
Yields of 3 to 4 kgs of berries per plant from 5-year-old bushes are reported in Canada. As at 2021 in Australia with 4 year old bushes the best we have recorded is 1.75kgs.
Harvesting, depending on the season, is conducted late November to mid-December.
The process of harvesting is remarkably easy as ripe berries are easy to detach from their pedicel. Many can be simply shaken off into a container such as a baby’s wading pool placed under the plant.
Alternatively, a container held in one hand and the other hand used for ‘tickling them off’ is quite effective.