Where to find Cloudberry plants?

Hi! This is my first time posting on here.
I'm in Zone 4 UP Michigan and looking for some Cloudberry plants (also called Salmonberry.) Can anyone recommend a reliable source?

You may have luck searching in Maine or Vermont. I had been looking for these and had some odd seeds the first couple times I purchased from Amazon and I hope the last ones I received are good bought through Etsy RWSeeds. I've yet to stratify the seeds and hadn't found any plants.

I think salmonberry & cloudberry are two different ones- salmonberries are usually pink & grow on the west coast of North America, cloudberries are gold & grow all the way around the northern polar region of the planet. As such, I'm not entirely sure you could get that to grow where you live. I also don't think you can get salmonberry plants or seed on the market, either, but I could be wrong.

Native species for Michigan would be black raspberry, sawtooth blackberry & thimbleberry.

I looked into this a few years ago with memories of some delicious cloudberries I had eaten in Sweden, and didn't find anything promising for the USA. It sounds like they are difficult to cultivate, and plentiful in the wild in their native range, so even in Scandinavia I think they are mostly foraged rather than farmed. I would think the Michigan UP probably suits them climate-wise, but you might also need to meet their other preferred conditions (boggy ground, if I recall, and probably a certain pH range).

Salmonberries (definitely a different plant) you might have more luck with. I feel like I've seen them available in a couple places. One Green World, probably, and maybe also Fedco at one point?

Sometimes referred to as yellowberry, salmonberry or bakeapple, cloudberries (rubus chamaemorus in Latin) grow in boggy areas of Arctic and subarctic regions, appearing for just a few weeks in the summertime.

from Michelin guide

I really fancy trying to grow some myself here on Skye. I think the climate may be OK for it (may be not cold enough in winter), if I can just get some established....Needs male and female plants, although there is at least one hermaphrodite clone. I'm sure I read somewhere that it was quite productive on one of the Northern Scottish archipelagos.

Sounds like another case of the same common name being applied to several species ("serviceberry", anyone?). Here's Wikipedia:

Rubus chamaemorus is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae, native to cool temperate regions, alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest.[1] This herbaceous perennial produces amber-colored edible fruit similar to the blackberry. English common names include cloudberry,[2] nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry (in Alaska – not to be confused with salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis),[3] and averin or evron (in Scotland).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_chamaemorus

Ian Young wrote:I looked into this a few years ago with memories of some delicious cloudberries I had eaten in Sweden, and didn't find anything promising for the USA. It sounds like they are difficult to cultivate, and plentiful in the wild in their native range, so even in Scandinavia I think they are mostly foraged rather than farmed. I would think the Michigan UP probably suits them climate-wise, but you might also need to meet their other preferred conditions (boggy ground, if I recall, and probably a certain pH range).

Yup, never heard of anyone farming cloudberries in Scandinavia. Bog it is, and acid bog at that. If you have that kind of place in (northern) Scandinavia, chances are they're there already, and if you have another kind of land, I doubt you'd want to turn it into a sphagnum moss bog. You'd pretty much destroy your chances of ever growing anything else on that piece of land again (with the exception of cranberries) and frankly, land you can grow other stuff on is probably less common around here than those bogs... That said, if you're close to the right type of climate (or if you're not and feel like doing some plant breeding), these are like the tastiest berries ever! (Though that's just my opinion, some people don't like them at all. Most people up north love them, having grown up with them, but I have friends from other parts of the world that just find them weird...) So anywhere where you don't have them, if you can make an acid swamp on a piece of land you don't know what else to do with, I'd say go for it!

Also, if anyone wants seeds (and can/wants to risk recieving seeds from Scandinavia) I can probably get some come summer. I'm open to swapping or just sending you some for the love of berries... Just let me know.

I live in Northern Michigan Zone 4.  I have bought Cloudberry seeds several times and have not had any luck.

I have some Wasabi Radish or Black Nebula Carrot seeds for trade.

@Enio - Please let me know if we can do some trades, it would be really cool to get some land race seeds.

@Marc - PM sent, have some seeds drying with your name on them.
@ everyone else - I probably have enough seeds for one or two more seed lots, if anyone is interested.

Eino - I'm interested! I'll have a seedy swap list later in the year.

Nancy - PM sent.

Anyone else?

I've been desperately trying to find a Cloudberry/Bakeapple plant for years, I've tried to grow from seed but no luck.  Has anyone on here been able to find a source for the actual plant?  I wonder if it's non-shippable in plant form?  Just surprised I can't find it anywhere...just the jam lol.

Eino Kenttä wrote:Anyone else?

Are any still available? I’m growing some lingonberries now and would absolutely love to try growing these as well. I live in a sandy pine forest that seems perfect for most berries. Btw I can send you a list of what I have to share too.

You all have solved a mystery for me! Years ago I read a story about a girl surviving partially on cloudberries in Alaska and I couldn't figure out how she could do that because my brain mixed up the word with snowberries which are nasty and (I believe) inedible. Somehow reading this post made me realize that I mixed the two berries up in my head.

So thank you because it's seriously been bugging me ever since! 😂

Manda Bell wrote:

Eino Kenttä wrote:Anyone else?

Are any still available? I’m growing some lingonberries now and would absolutely love to try growing these as well. I live in a sandy pine forest that seems perfect for most berries. Btw I can send you a list of what I have to share too.

The seeds from last year ran out, but I'll be saving some more once they are ripe in a few weeks. Do you have a boggy patch on your land? Cloudberries like it wet. Anyway, I'll get some seeds for you. PM me.

Eino Kenttä wrote: I'll get some seeds for you. PM me.

So kind of you. Thanks so much!

I have cloudberry seeds again. I figure there's enough for one or two more packets beyond the people who have already ordered. Swap or giveaway, as before. Anyone?

Hi Eino I would love to try cloudberry seeds

Hi Bill,

I still have some seeds, but don't know if they're still good, since I kept them "fresh" (not dried out) and under outdoor conditions in a jar. They might have started germinating already, in which case I can't send them, or they might have rotted. I'm away working at the moment, so can't check them right now, but I'll be back in a few days. I'll let you know. If they seem bad I'll get new ones this summer, so just drop me a PM with your postal address and I'll see what I can do.

The seeds had started germinating, so would probably not survive transport. I will get more seeds this summer, to be sent in the autumn. If anyone wants some, let me know!