Growing My Way to Freedom #3: Sea Buckthorn Berry Jelly

Robin:
I just read up on this plant.
I sure comes with a lot of positive benefits according to Wikipedia.
A couple of weeks with that on your toast and we will be watching you in the Olympics! ;-)

p.s.I don’t envy the harvest part, it sounds like a trial.

-- I want to believe in a lot of things but, in the meantime I have to deal with the truth

Bob, the harvest isn’t difficult, just very time consuming and the children like quicker successes. It is a good plant if you have lots of cheap labor! The jelly is really delicious and I am looking forward to trying some juice (mixed with honey) as an alternative to morning orange juice. Are your interested in some seeds or have I scared you off? I listed all the negatives in the harvesting but some of the positives are that it is really easy to grow, it is very attractive and it grows quickly. In four years, I already have more berries than I can use off one plant.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Robin, what’s this about needing two plants? (male female?)
Is that what you have?

Bob

-- I want to believe in a lot of things but, in the meantime I have to deal with the truth

Without the male plant, which produces only pollen, the female plant will flower but will not set fruit. Similar to most animals, the Sea Buckthorn is dioecious, producing only one gamete. Similar to Holly bushes, if you plant five, you will be sure to have at least one of each. I could tell by the first year which was male and which was female. You can cull the bushes you end up not wanting. I have been thinking they would make a great living fence.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

I’ve never heard of these berries before but they sure sound interesting.If I had the room I would try them out;but I have nowhere to plant them. Got any pictures of them?

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Bon here is some data from the Ontario govt re Buckthorn.
Looks like it is good to -40° C too.
Man what a deer fence!
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/seabuckthorn.htm

-- I want to believe in a lot of things but, in the meantime I have to deal with the truth

Thanks for the info Bob but I still can’t think of a space to plant some.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

Bon, here are two photos, one is a close-up showing the berries and the other is showing both the male and female plants. Sorry it isn’t a better photo, the raspberry canes, cherry tree and Jerusalem artichokes are blocking them. They are the tall silvery gray bushes. Not realizing how BIG they get, they are planted too close to other things which I will be moving around this fall. At four years old, the male plant is over ten feet high and the female plant, while shorter, is more broad with a span of about five feet.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Mmmm… Sea Buckthorn berries and apple pie. That sure sounds great. Is there any left? I’ll be right over.

- Chuck

There is lots of pie left. C’mon over and you can have a slice. ; )

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

I googled harvesting sea buckthorn and discovered that you can leave the berries on the bush till mid winter and then supposedly you can just shake the tree and the berries fall off. Though I met a lady who has an orchard of sea buckthorn trees ( I bet she has no unwelcome guests in there) and she said that even at -20 you still need to help the berries to fall off the trees, thick leather gloves are needed, but the bonus is no squished berries leaving sticky, oily goo all over your hands.

-- a geordie in Alberta

I googled harvesting sea buckthorn and discovered that you can leave the berries on the bush till mid winter and then supposedly you can just shake the tree and the berries fall off. Though I met a lady who has an orchard of sea buckthorn trees ( I bet she has no unwelcome guests in there) and she said that even at -20 you still need to help the berries to fall off the trees, thick leather gloves are needed, but the bonus is no squished berries leaving sticky, oily goo all over your hands.

-- a geordie in Alberta

Neat. I should consider this for the lower end of the property where the trail along the river runs below us. Who would need a dog when you have a Buckthorn? LOL Do they require a lot of sun?

-- jroot

Geordie, last year we had so few berries I did not harvest them. After the first frost (when they sweeten) the birds had them devoured in a day. I figure the only way I will get any berries is to pick them before the frost. What does the lady you know do with her orchard of sea berries? Does she use the berries commercially?

Jroot, they do prefer the sun. I have them in a spot where they have full sun, all day, except that this year they are actually being shaded by my Jerusalem artichokes. I never knew J.A.s would grow over 14 feet tall!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

u r

1 of a kind

2 pair

and a full house

radicalfarmgirl seems like am underestimated collar

-- Central northish Ontario

Robin very neat information on Sea Buckthorn Berry and nice photos.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

I am ordering some Sea Buckthorn bushes for planting this spring… and then I re-read your description above:

• You cannot shake the branch to have them fall off. Each berry has to be removed individually. They are very tart to the taste, rather like a lemon, so they are not as rewarding to munch while picking. The bush has long, sharp thorns hidden in the fruit. If you are not paying attention, you get pricked. It is more annoying than painful. When the berries burst open, they cover your hands with a waxy, oily juice that my children did not appreciate.” … perhaps I’ve bitten off more than I can chew!

Oh well.. whatever I don’t harvest will feed the birds!

Some other points to add to its merits:

• the juice is high in protein—bonus!
• the plant helps build nitrogen in the soil
• deep root system helps with soil erosion as well as the health of the soil
• they work well in a “walnut tree guild”

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Debbie, I didn’t have any trouble harvesting enough berries to make delicious jelly, juice and pies this summer. The children just don’t have as much patience. They prefer the instant gratification of raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I don’t think you will regret growing them; they are beautiful and taste wonderful when prepared.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

I’m going to have lots of fruit, once all my trees/bushes flourish!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

My plants took about three years to grow large enough to produce in abundance.

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

3 years isn’t too bad.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

Thanks Robin for the stories, recipes, and photos on seaberry / sea buckthorn plants. I have started my own orchard of these plants here in Massachusetts too! I may bee a few years away from harvesting berries, but I am looking forward to the cultivation of these plants. I hope you don’t mind, I’ve used your pie recipe on the recipe page on my blog.
Yesterday I received the first shipment of plants and have them in the ground. I am also growing seedlings from seeds received from Lithuania.
Site you may be interested in : Seaberry / Sea Buckthorn

Seedlings

From Seaberry / Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)

-- To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there. - Kofi Annan

Your Massachusetts plantation is only a little more than an hour drive from here. If you are ever traveling up this way in early September, come visit and you can help yourself to some of our berries! Good luck with your little seedlings!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Thanks Robin for the invite. Thank you for the invite. Visiting your garden would be a treat. The seedlings are doing very well and I have received some plants and they are in the ground. I have some updates and photos of the progress collected here Seaberry / Sea buckthorn

-- To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there. - Kofi Annan

Some of those Sea Buckthorn plants you received are a good size. I wouldn’t be surprised if you started to get berries next year!

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi