Juneberrys

dean nelson

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Having never looked for them and not smart enough to check when they flower till it was too late my question is what kind of area do they most often occur in I.E river bottoms, draws or wherever. Also how common are they around central ND since my folks would like to get some so may have to go out and get some this summer.
 


Allen

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Juneberries at my place were in bloom a few days ago, up to a week ago. The berries are already being set.

Look down in wooded draws (small thickets) near streams and rivers. If'n you've been to Indian Hills, Juneberries were/are common along the road going out to the low-water ramp area.

So are ticks and poison ivy. You will often find them all close together!

If the area hasn't had much rain as of late the crop is going to suffer and dry up.
 

Glass

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This is from the North Dakota Tree handbook

Juneberry or Saskatoon Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)

General Description

A hardy, medium to tall, suckering shrub, native to prairie
hillsides and woody draws. Also called Saskatoon and
Serviceberry. Fruits are highly prized for food. Selected
cultivars are used in commercial production.
 

BDub

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Juneberry pie is the best! There used to be a family east of Bismarck that sold them. She had a tree row of Juneberries.
 

gonefshn

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I usually buy mine in Devils Lake when the Farmers Market starts in July. There's a couple that comes there each year for at least a few of these Saturday's that have them.
 


Lycanthrope

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If you want juneberries and have a yard or land, consider planting some named varieties. They will produce larger/better quality fruit than what you can find wild typically. You should get a small crop by the 3rd year. Currently I have Smokey, Martin, Lee8 and JB30. The last 3 were just planted last year and are very small still. Smokey seems to have set a good crop this year. This is its 4th year and its about 4ft tall and 3ft wide right now. Honeyberryusa has a decent selection of juneberry cultivars.
 

1bigfokker

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Every other bush is a Juneberry in the turtle mountains. Pick in July.
 

Glass

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Do you have any honey berries planted? I have been thinking about planting some since a guy cant easily grow blueberries here, but dont know if i want to fight the birds!
 

Lycanthrope

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Honeyberry bushes dont get very big, so they are fairly easy to net. I have some varieties, most are really small still tho. Borealis, honey bee, aurora, solo, maxine, blue jewel, blue moose, blizzard, beauty, indigo gem and happy giant. Blueberries are kind of a PITA in this area, I put mine in grow bags this year and they are flowering better than I expected. Pic taken last weekend. 20170517_194434.jpg
Heres a pic of some of my honeyberries, these are borealis variety, 2 years old. Rabbits chewed them down a lot last winter, but they are growing like crazy right now. No fruit on these and although they look like nice bushes, this variety doesnt produce well so I wouldnt plant them again.
20170519_170842.jpg
 
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gr8outdoors

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I have Juneberry trees in my yard. They are not very big because I cut them a few years ago n don't want them. They are in the wrong spot if u ask me in my yard. I want them gone. Probably gonna cut them down again n stump grinder them just to get rid of them. That being said, we had Juneberry trees at the farm when I was little n we went to pick 5 gallon buckets​ full. Well apparently I ate more than I put in the bucket because on the walk back to the house, I puked at least 5 times. Not a fond memory. But they were delicious!
 


Lycanthrope

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Theres some juneberries along hay creek in bismarck but you cant get any berries off them cuz they birds steal them before they are really ripe....
 

Allen

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Yeah, birds like to pick them about a week before I think they are ready. Rat bastidges!

Maybe I should net some this year, some of mine are in bloom right now.
 

Davey Crockett

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I wonder if any of those hawks or owl scare birds work? I see a few around the countryside and they sure look real from a distance. Put them out right when the birds start eating the berries and if they only worked for a couple weeks it would be a success.
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Lycanthrope

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I started juneberries from seed a few months ago, grew them indoors. Turned out pretty well!

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dean nelson

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Theres some juneberries along hay creek in bismarck but you cant get any berries off them cuz they birds steal them before they are really ripe....
Yeah I found them pretty much everywhere I thought they might possibly be the only trouble for a while there was finding them in concentrations that would be large enough to make it worth checking out later. They do seem to have an knack for growng where only mountain goats want to go but I did find some areas where they stretch for miles so hopefully I can find some batches in there that don't get picked clean by the deer and birds. That or do a night raid on Lincoln oaks tree nursery because Lord knows they aint got any shortage of them and there's are probably the hybrids.:;:muahaha
 
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Shockwave

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Have about 8 Juneberry bushes in my backyard. Like some of the others have stated, the birds get them before we do.
 

guywhofishes

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the deer got to ours before we had implemented our fencing program

but the “pruning” they got wasn’t too severe so they should recover

we’re getting serious about fruit bushes/trees - and that means getting serious about protecting our investment

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- - - Updated - - -

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some silly people think that the relatively ineffective urban deer control programs free up the urban dwellers from having to invest time/effort/finances to prevent deer depredation - they assume gov’t programs handle it and urban dwellers just sit back and relax

and that urban folks also benefit greatly from the awesome hunting opportunities it provides - lol, they’ve never attended the certification training and thought about how creepy it would be to hunt deer where lots of anti-hunting people are walking/biking with their kids, etc.

they’d be wrong, but there’s no telling them that

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also - we chose not to gut shoot the deer

I’m pretty sure galwhofishes dreams about killing them though - smoke comes out her ears when she discovers “nibblage”... or down right devastation - I have to talk her down - caught her googling “flame throwers for deer” the other day
 

lostinnd

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guywhofishes - how do you keep your deer fences around the berries stable without fence posts? Large garden staples?
 


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