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fruit trees

Sea Buckthorn (Sea berries) A Super food

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 7 months ago

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In Between Rain Squalls and Other Projects.
I hand dug a hole, and the first girl is in the dirt!
I had compost to mix with the dirt, but the instructions said not to mix any, so I settled for putting some on top to slowly wash down.
Only three more holes to dig.

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Jay Angler

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posted 7 months ago

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thomas rubino wrote: I had compost to mix with the dirt, but the instructions said not to mix any, so I settled for putting some on top to slowly wash down.

Sea buckthorn is supposed to have nitrogen fixing nodules on its roots, so that's probably why they suggested not to use compost.

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Anne Gartner

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posted 7 months ago

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Sea buckhorn has been used in Eastern Europe for hundreds of years. Most of the varieties there have thorns so people now cut entire branches, freeze them, hit the branches once frozen hard and the berries drop like a charm. Hand picking them between the thorns is not for the faint of heart

Rosa Mio Gardino

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Location: 3a

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posted 7 months ago

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Benson Smith wrote:people talk about plants "around here " a Lot - can we see the region they live in please?

Here is Zone 3/4 Alberta. I am in a major city and my yard is relatively sheltered by fences / trees. I’m not sure what variety I have as the tags are on mine but it’s -10°C and I’m in my PJ’s

We have a ‘berry’ farm near here and their plants are legit trees with several varieties.

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Diane Woiak

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posted 7 months ago

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I read about and was excited to grow sea berries. Ordered 10 plants. Then read more. Lots of people warning they can be invasive. I got scared and threw them on the bonfire. Didn't want a repeat of my rugosa rose. All the rage years back. Now rugosa roses are on wisconsins do not plant list. Very invasive. Make tons of seeds and send up lots of root shoots.

C. Letellier

pollinator

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Location: Greybull WY north central WY zone 4 bordering on 3

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posted 7 months ago

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The thorns have been the stopper here as I do not want to get another thing like russian olive started in this area. Is there a thornless variety?

Country oriented nerd with primary interests in alternate energy in particular solar. Dabble in gardening, trees, cob, soil building and a host of others.

Jay Angler

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posted 7 months ago

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C. Letellier wrote: Is there a thornless variety?

I've heard of thornless and it's mentioned above, and certainly my male plant isn't as thorny as many people describe, but I don't know what variety it is.

This article also mentions thornless, but doesn't name varieties. It is aimed at large scale farming, but is a reliable source:
https://www.ontario.ca/page/introduction-sea-buckthorn

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thomas rubino

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 7 months ago

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I planted the last sea berry today!
The first three have been in the ground for a few days, showing signs of new growth!
The male plant was the last one today and the farthest along of them all.
We plan to get three more starts from a lady in Spokane, two more girls, and another boy.
We also hope to buy berries from her this fall.

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Rosa Mio Gardino

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posted 7 months ago

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Ventured out into the yard to find the variety I have.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6825

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 7 months ago

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The sun came out today and the new babies loved it!
New growth on all four plants.
I have three varieties, Leikora, Frugana, Botanica, and a male. ( Apparently, knowing his parentage is not essential...)

Interestingly, my seller said to only use the soil that I dug up and not to add any compost!
They did say that extra watering is required while the plants are young, but once established, it would not be necessary.

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Donner MacRae

pioneer

Posts: 87

Location: Location: Sherwood Forest

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posted 6 months ago

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This may be a useful doc for those evaluating Sea Buckthorn varieties:

http://culturinnov.qc.ca/sites/culturinnov.qc.ca/files/fichiers-attaches/Cultivars_argousiers.pdf

Apart from being in French, there are some good comparison tables, images, and so forth.

As an experiment, I used Google Translate to produce an English translation (attached). Unfortunately, not all of the original formatting survived - in particular, the headings for tables such as 'Fruit Maturity - Quebec - 2012' and 'Taste Properties' are tiny/easily missed.

(Not that I wouldn't've fixed it for y'all - I refuse to be Adobe's bitch.)

Filename: Choosing-The-Right-Sea-Buckthorn-Cultivars.pdf

File size: 14 megabytes

[Download Choosing-The-Right-Sea-Buckthorn-Cultivars.pdf]

Download Attachment

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Morfydd St. Clair

pollinator

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Location: Hamburg, Germany

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posted 6 months ago

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We were at the garden today so I staked up the three female plants. The fuzzy brown branches in the foreground are one of the females; a few thorns but not many. The white spiky branches in the background are the male; thorns aplenty. (Despite looking dead in this photo they’re all leafing out nicely.)

Apologies for crappy photo, the garden is chaotic right now and the camera couldn’t focus on “scraggly thing here, no, here!”

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Eino Kenttä

gardener

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Location: Semi-nomadic, main place coastal mid-Norway, latitude 64 north

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posted 6 months ago

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thomas rubino wrote:
Interestingly, my seller said to only use the soil that I dug up and not to add any compost!

Makes sense. In the wild they often grow in pretty much pure sand...

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6825

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 4 months ago

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It has been a couple of months now since planting my seaberries.
All four have taken root and are growing.
The Male plant and the Botanica female picked up aphids; the other two females did not.
All four got sprayed with neem oil. Problem solved, no more aphids!
The Frugana and the Leikora girls seem to be doing better than the Botanica and the male; it may have been due to the aphids.

I am pleased with the growth so far.
Still hoping to get a few more plants started this year.

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thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

Posts: 6825

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 1 month ago

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Mid-September and the seaberries are looking like they have found a new forever home.
The deer have munched on the new growth several times.
We got aphids a couple of times.
But all four are looking good.
I did go to Spokane and got three starts, from a lady's backyard: two girls and another boy.
Sadly, only one of those is still growing; the boy and one girl did not survive.
She said I can have more if these did not make it.

My pictures didn't turn out well, but you can see the growth.

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For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
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