Honeyberries (Haskap) in Zone 7b - Microclimate Possible?

I'm striving for a multitude and variety of berries in my urban food forest and on impulse, ordered two varieties of Honeyberry just 'cause they sound good.   But after further research am concerned that my climate may not be appropriate so I'm trying to figure out the best location for them to give them good circulation, not baking all day, but 6 hrs of sun for fruiting.   The advice for southern gardeners is to give them some protection from the sun.    So I planted them behind the garage on the north side where it's the coolest and gets part shade  from morning thru mid-day.   We have high humidity here and already I'm seeing some powdery mildew on one of them so now I'm concerned there is just not enough dry fresh air back there.    Another option might be an area that is more open, protected by a west fence, gets morning and half day sun and is at the lowest elevation of my property so I'm guessing probably coolest.   On the other hand does a lower elevation get less air circulation?    My head just spins when considering so many variables so my question before I uproot these babies, is:   Has anyone else grown honeyberries in a warm climate?   It seems the few posts here are all northern climate folks.     Meanwhile, I'm going out with a thermometer to compare several locations :)

There's a lady in Corvallis Oregon who has been selecting for warm weather varieties. That's in Zone 8b so should be good for you. I have several varieties from her. All the russian and ukrainian ones died. The site is http://www.lovehoneyberry.com/maxine-thompson-haskaps/

It's fairly normal for honeyberries to start to wither now, as they're used to a short season, coming from a sub-arctic region. And if they've just been transplanted they might not be strongly rooted yet and suffer a setback from that. On the other hand, young plants usually continue growing a bit longer into the season than mature plants.

Besides Maxine Thompson's varieties that Tj Jefferson pointed to, I would expect also the newer varieties from the university of Saskatchewan among the better ones for you, as they have a later season, especially Boreal Blizzard, Boreal Beast and Boreal Beauty.
I wouldn't pick the older Russian varieties, but also for taste I'd prefer the Canadian varieties - they're sweeter.

Your climate I can't judge well. I'm in The Netherlands, your climate zone chart would put an 8 on that, but personally I don't see much sense in those charts, as they only seem to look at the coldest point in winter. Being close to the sea, we're relatively warm then, but in summer we're colder than Saskatchewan.
Also the whole of The Netherlands gets put in zone 8, while the middle or south of The Netherlands can harvest their honeyberries mid-May or so, for me, only a 100 miles further north, it's around July.
I'm not sure what honeyberries can handle. I can say all of Europe was very hot and dry this summer, July we had a record amount of sun hours, but my honeyberries still look very fresh although they have zero shade. That is including the Russian varieties. They are strong plants, so I'm not sure in what kind of conditions Tj Jefferson lost his or her Russians. Maybe temperatures that far exceeded the 30°C (86F) we've had here for a while?
A recent topic about honeyberries that you may have missed - since you say that only a few northerners wrote about it, while these are hardly northerners: https://permies.com/t/87194/Haskap      

Thanks J  
Susan, i live in a 8b hardiness zone and i grow haskaps. As J said it was a dry summer. My haskaps grew well until the drought got them. They producesed very well this year. Hascaps are adapted to hot zones but not to droughts.
My hascaps were in leave until 2 weeks ago. No water.
Look at my post Haskap

In Slovenia, 1.000 km southeast from you, our haskaps are burnt out always after a hot summer - they look dead and dry in the autumn to the point where I keep tugging at them to check that it is not a case of roots taken by voles. And then they bounce back in the spring.

It doesn't matter that I pump water from the well for them, or that they are mulched, or that the soil is on the clay side, or that they get afternoon shade. It looks as though it is the temperature that gets them - either that or they really can't be permitted to go dry even for a short while.

And it's not that they are languishing - they do grow slowly but the crops are good, the bushes are full. It's just that by the time autumn rolls in, they look like a lost case.

An entry at lovehoneyberry.com talks about sustained temps above 30 C triggering dormancy. This sounds about right.

http://www.lovehoneyberry.com/honeyberry-summer-dormancy/

The local growers I've talked to are hoping for better results with late-flowering varieties such as the Boreal line which has already been mentioned in some other Permies haskap topics. I'll be planting some myself in a couple of days.

I have two small honeyberries that I planted in a spot with some afternoon shade two years ago. They have survived but not grown much, they don't like a southern Missouri summer much, which is similar in heat to most of North Carolina outside of the mountains, even though a colder winter puts us in zone 6b. The USDA zones say nothing about summer conditions. Western Oregon and Belgium are much cooler in the summer than Missouri and North Carolina despite the lack of winter extremes in the more maritime areas.

Well.....interesting to hear a lot of different environments - it will be fun to compare notes next year.    I did go ahead and move them to the lowest section of my yard which is kind of a bowl surrounded by a privacy fence, hedges and only 6-8 hrs of sun per day.   The main goal was to get them out of a high humidity area which I think was causing the mildew.  They recovered from the xplant nicely (pruned off the mildewed leaves).    Hopefully the bowl will create a cool air sink.   July and August can get brutal but if I can get an early crop I'll be happy!  

This is copied from berries unlimited website. they are in NW Arkansas zone 6B and they grow and ship honey berries around the world.
It is imperative that you choose a variety that not only is rated for your zone, but one that will produce the quality of honeyberries that you desire. Berries Unlimited offers a wide variety of honeyberry cultivar varieties for U.S.D.A. agriculture hardiness zones 2 thru 8. Zones 2-4 are the best to keep those plants happy, zones 5-9 are POSSIBLE to grow but it takes more of Your time to water them carefully through the hot season. If you are unsure of your hardiness zone, or just need help choosing which of the many fine varieties available to you, our staff will be more than happy to assist you in making the right choice. We can also help with buying honeyberry plants wholesale!

I planted a couple Yezberries from honeyberryusa. So far they are okay with the high heat but I have them on deep water drip and a every other day hand watering along with shade cloth from noon to evening.

I am in Northwest Arkansas zone 6B/7A. On this Hillside I had my husband dig trenches with our backhoe, i filled them with old wood up to ground level then topped that with dirt from the hole and some topsoil that we had left from being scrapped off of a pond we had made and the seeded it with austrian peas, chicory, and a field radish. Then I put some mushroom compost on top of that. The next terrace down I did the same thing except as the last layer I put down pine mulch mix. then I planted 4 honey berries and apple tree and a pear tree in the upper terrace and 2nd terrace down I put in 6 blueberries.
 Prior to planting these berries I dipped their roots into a mycorrizzal fungi mix. I did this planting the end of last sept.  A couple days after planting I left the property for 6 months as I have a seasonal job elsewhere. Came back in April and all the plants are doing beautifully. 2 of the honey berries had several berries on them and 3 of the blueberries have some berries on them. Plants have quadrupled in size and I have not watered them once. We do Have hot summers here and I may have to water the berries if we get a dry spell. The ground cover I put in was growing when I left and it was growing well when I got back. I am thinking it reseeded itself over the winter. The top terrace is thick in radishes and chicory with very little of the peas coming up and the 2nd terrace is thick in peas with very little of the other stuff. the peas are over 3 ft tall and I keep pulling them back from the berry plants. Not sure if I should chop and drop them or let them go stop seed again.

6A here.  I have two Honeyberries in a shaded hugelkultur area.  I don't think they have grown, at all, in the last two years.  I 've had much better luck with raspberries, elderberry, strawberries, blackberries, currants....heck just about every berry I've planted.   They have struggled but they are still alive.  

Tracy Lee wrote:I am in Northwest Arkansas zone 6B/7A. On this Hillside I had my husband dig trenches with our backhoe, i filled them with old wood up to ground level then topped that with dirt from the hole and some topsoil that we had left from being scrapped off of a pond we had made and the seeded it with austrian peas, chicory, and a field radish. Then I put some mushroom compost on top of that. The next terrace down I did the same thing except as the last layer I put down pine mulch mix. then I planted 4 honey berries and apple tree and a pear tree in the upper terrace and 2nd terrace down I put in 6 blueberries.
 Prior to planting these berries I dipped their roots into a mycorrizzal fungi mix. I did this planting the end of last sept.  A couple days after planting I left the property for 6 months as I have a seasonal job elsewhere. Came back in April and all the plants are doing beautifully. 2 of the honey berries had several berries on them and 3 of the blueberries have some berries on them. Plants have quadrupled in size and I have not watered them once. We do Have hot summers here and I may have to water the berries if we get a dry spell. The ground cover I put in was growing when I left and it was growing well when I got back. I am thinking it reseeded itself over the winter. The top terrace is thick in radishes and chicory with very little of the peas coming up and the 2nd terrace is thick in peas with very little of the other stuff. the peas are over 3 ft tall and I keep pulling them back from the berry plants. Not sure if I should chop and drop them or let them go stop seed again.

Tracy, what a great project! Looks awesome!!! Strong work!

If your just starting to plant these haskap berries , when do you start new plants