Potted Blueberries and honeyberries experiences ?

Hi all. I’ve been looking at buying blueberries but have veered toward honey berries as they don’t need ericaceous compost it seems. I’m intending growing in pots on the patio - I know I will need to keep an eye on the watering and will need to net them to keep off the pesky blackbirds but I’m wondering what other matters need considering as this is my first time buying fruit bushes ? I’m led to believe that they are truly hardy .. or is this just an idle claim that has been made ? All advice and experience welcomed !

 

My mum has grown honeyberries but wasn't impressed with the taste. I have 3 blueberry bushes in pots - they're pretty small still, but I got my first berries last year. The blackbirds didn't try to eat them even though they love a blueberry (they always get any squashy ones when I buy them). Maybe because the bushes were in the middle of a lot of other pots and not so easy to get to. I've seen them eat the berries off the lonicera nitida.

 

I have had 3 blueberries for about 6-7 years now.
In 22L pots with ericaceous compost and fed once a month from spring to autumn with an Azalea feed (miracle gro for azaleas) and I only use rainwater on them - not always easy in midsummer!
It's not easy to overwater them and in hot weather I water every day. They don't like being dry at the roots.
I hang CDs which keeps the birds away.
They fruit from July to late Sept and I get about 5-6Kg in total from them.
They suffer no frost damage at all and are very hardy.

 

Never grown Honeyberries but have grown Blueberries for several years.
Several varieties to choose from like the tall Spartan or the smaller Dixie etc, though hard to tell that much difference in taste between them all.

Ericaceous compost is readily available and little more than standard compost, so do not see that as a problem.

Assuming you buy the typical young plants, pot them on int 10" or 12" pots for the first year or two but you will need to move them on to 15" or 18" tubs etc in the folowing years as some varieties can readily grow to 6ft tall .

Though you will get some fruits this year it will be a couple of years before you get a decent harvest and would suggest 3 -6 plants.

Expect you could plant direct into garden soil, would think if you dug in, planted with and regularly top dressed with Ericaceous compost that would work ok.

Would suggest you place them where is easy to net them as we found the birds will take the blossom as well as the fruit as soon as it hints at turning blue.

There are some good ytubes on how to prune Blueberries.

There are a few ways to make tap water acid, we just added 2 -3 drops of cider vinegar to a 6 lts can of tap water. The odd watering of untreated tap water never seemed to bother fully grown plants.

 

Thanks folks.
Mine will be on the patio next to the mature potted olive trees - all watered with collected rainwater which will be saved especially for them - I am one for having discarded plastic and metal bins ! For when I’m away I reckon bowls of water underneath the pots should be handy.
I intend making a bird beating frame which can be placed over them if the birds show any interest at all …
After seeing your replies I am minded to go for two honey berry plants and 2 blueberries as we get through a lot of berries here !

 

i always thought honeyberries needed 2 varieties to get fruit. maybe there are self fertile ones. always worth looking for the best variety dor bushes like with fruit trees as they can last many years

 

Yes that’s right - I will be getting two varieties today

 

I must have been living under a stone for nearly 80 years because I have never heard of honeyberries. Never seen them for sale in garden centres. Never seen them for sale as berries in the greengrocers or supermarkets.

But I do grow blueberries and I get more fruit than I can deal with from four bushes in pots, very well netted in summer (the blackbirds and squirrels know how to find any gaps in the netting) and watered every day in the summer.

Good luck.

 

I’ve never heard of honey berries either, off to google

 

Honeyberry bushes usually turn up for sale in the supermarkets, alongside the blueberry bushes etc. I bought a bargain one for 30p a couple of years ago, but it didn't survive. However the two gooseberry bushes I bought at the same time, also 30p each, are still alive and the red one produced its first fruit last year.

 

A type of Honeysuckle apparently.
Lonicera caerulea var. edulis.

 

Well they have them everywhere here in Glos. and I’ve bought a couple

 

Enjoy!

 

I've grown both honeyberries and blueberries for years and they both do best with pollinating partners.

With honeyberries you may get a few berries if they aren't cross pollinated but with a partner they crop much better. I think quite a few of the better cultivars have plant breeders rights, so companies have jumped on the selling of the more wild type that doesn't crop as well or have as nice of a flavour. I would try and get a couple of named compatible cultivars if you really want to grow them

 

I have thevictorian !