From the beginning of our gardening adventures, we love the idea of foraging for homegrown berries in our gardens.
Since growing strawberries in 2015, we had explored other types of berries plants, from mainly seeds and also from cutting.
In 2016, we grew wolfberries, and this year (2019) began journeys into berries “bush” such as nightshade blackberries and this, Chichiquelite huckleberries.
What we found most amazing about our 2019 berries plants was how fast they grew.
For both of the above, seeds to fruits timeline were only 3 months.
Stages of Huckleberries from seeds (2019) –
We sowed seeds on May 18 2019 using strawberries germination method, and the first seed sprouted on May 22 as shown.
Cotyledon (seed leaves) showed 2 days later (May 24).
With seeds leaves, roots were also developing more roots hairs.
True leaves showed within 2 weeks.
The length of each seedling was 6 cm.
We grew in both liquid and soil base to observe how they progressed.
SOIL BASED
These plants grew better in soil than our container liquid base.
They were planted outdoor on June 23 2019.
This was how they grew after they were planted in individual pots on June 29.
It was observed that in the bigger pot (diameter 18 inch and 16-inch height, about 80 liters), the plant was bigger and fruit faster.
The taller the plant, the more fruits clusters.
TIP – Big Pot = Big Plant, Faster to Fruit
Flowers showed on August 1.
They seem to be able to self pollinate and progressed to fruits on their own.
Flowers grew in a cluster and formed along the length of the stem.
Fruits formed on their own in a cluster.
Tip – During the fruiting stage, water more.
For most nightshade, green berries are not edible.
For sweeter picking, the berries are best picked when the black is less shiny (fully ripe state).
The fruits are juicy and squirt liquid on a light bite.
Green berries took about a month to turn from green to dark shade, and then black.
The ripening of fruits is not uniform.
Some remained green longer even within the same cluster.
NOTES FROM OBSERVATION
Tolerate heat (afternoon sun)
Faster to fruit in a bigger pot (diameter 18 inches, depth 16-inch size)
The taller the plant, the more fruit clusters
A hard prune (cut stems) of the plant in September 2019 due to recurring leaf miners on most of the leaves.
They also spread to other plants.
By December 2019, the plant was thriving again.
2020 Harvest Day
LIQUID BASED
They grew and fruit even faster in liquid-based.
However, the flowers did not turn into fruits and the plant weakened in the second month.
This was how they grew for our hydro plants.
Flowered at 6 weeks old in a liquid base.
More yellowed and weakening leaves at 8 weeks even though there are flowers.
Our hypothesis on why our liquid-based plants did not survive was because there was no room for the lateral roots to develop.
A hydro trial will begin again to test this hypothesis.
UPDATE – Hydroponic Huckleberries successful in new bush systems in 2020.