Excerpts from Dr. Barney’s Research Reports – 2008

February 14, 2008

(In response to an information request from Europe)

I suggest you visit my website at www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint. We have a great deal of information on the different huckleberry and bilberry species, including how to grow them.

The names huckleberry, bilberry, whortleberry, and blueberry are interchangeable and it is not unusual for a single plant to be called all of these names. There are also many different plants in at least two families and three genera that are called huckleberries. As far as what is a “true” huckleberry, it is a common name and widely used for many plants.

I work with Vaccinium species that are native to western North America, although some of the species are also found across North America and some in Asia and Europe. With one exception, alpine bilberry, Vaccinium uliginosum, all are found in genus Vaccinium section Myrtillus.

One species I work with is Vaccinium myrtillus. We call it bilberry or dwarf huckleberry in North America. It is best known as bilberry in Europe and is commercially harvested from the wild in Scandinavia and probably elsewhere. Bilberry has a long history of use for medicinal and culinary purposes. This would be by far the easiest huckleberry to obtain in Germany. The fruits are smaller than mountain and Cascade huckleberries native to the eastern U.S., but the flavor is excellent.

Red huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium, is first cousin to both bilberry and the large-fruited mountain and Cascade huckleberries. It is also found in section Myrtillus. The fruits are a bright red and tend to be quite tart. Red huckleberry has low anthocyanin and antioxidant concentrations and also lacks the strong flavor components of the Cascade and mountain huckleberries or bilberry. Red huckleberry is harvested commercially from the wild and used primarily, I believe, for pastries.

April 3, 2008

We still have no idea how our huckleberries fared the winter. They are still covered by 19 inches of snow. Nice insulation. I’m especially anxious to see how the bark beds turned out.

My primary focus now is getting the huckleberry cultivars developed, with most other projects on hold. I’ll be starting seed from crosses I did in 2008 and making more crosses early next month. We also have quite a few young plants ready for the greenhouse. On the positive front, I believe I have identified a main problem with tissue culturing some ofour selections. A different iron compound in the medium seems to be largely preventing the poor growth and death we have with many of the selections. I need to run a few more tests, but I think we will be able to turn out many more test plants for cooperators.

I will be in Alaska from June 14-30th and in Oregon July 13-17. In late August and early September, I will be making some trips to Lolo Pass and probably a few other huckleberry sites to collect samples. Most of the summer and fall will be spent getting ready for my sabbatical next summer.

Hope all is going well

March 4, 2008

Winter has not been too bad, just more than average snow and it hasstayed for a very long time. We still have about 24 inches on the level at our farm. Good for the plants. We had plenty of snow cover for insulation.

The new UI campus at Sandpoint is still on hold. The Wild rose Foundation put everything on hold when Coldwater Creek share prices dropped from $25 to $8. The prices are now down to $5.40 and I don’t see a turnaround soon.

Mr. Pence did donate 18 acres of land for a new experimental farm. About 8 acres are tillable and another couple suitable for container yards and the like. I still have to meet with the dean and director to find out what they want me to do and what I have to work with.

I’m propagating test plants as rapidly as I can and refining our in vitro techniques to establish the remaining selections. I am also starting seed from our past breeding trials. I was waiting for a new greenhouse, but that does not appear to be coming soon.

I just gave two talks on huckleberries at the pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, Canada. There is some interest in producing bilberries and huckleberries in B.C.

July 18, 2008

My huckleberry crop at Sandpoint was very good, perhaps a couple of weeks late. Most cultivated crops are running two to three weeks later than usual throughout the region due to a long, cold spring.

The Priest Lake crop at about 2,600 feet looked average to above average in early June. I have not been back to see the ripe fruit, but probably will be next Thursday or Friday. I’ve been gone most of the past month to Alaska and Oregon.

I expect to have a good lower elevation crop early. Fruit size should be average to above average. The higher elevation crop is likely to be problematic due to little rain and high temperatures. I would rather expect a sporadic crop, with reasonably good yields on cooler, moister sites and few or small berries on drier sites.

I just returned from the International Vaccinium conference. Lots of good information that applies to huckleberries and bilberries. We should be able to greatly refine our nursery production of planting stock. Also, researchers in Norway, Finland, and Ukraine are working to domesticate bilberry (V. myrtillus) but are not as far along as we are. We are sharing information and, hopefully, germplasm. Their germplasm resources are incredible and we can offer help in propagation and production methodologies. All of us should profit from the exchange.

Breeding went well for mountain huckleberry this spring and terribly for oval-leaved bilberry. Practically no fruit set on the latter. We have made more selections of V. myrtillus and planted out F1 seed for many crosses in 2006. One of the V. myrtillus plants has very large berries. Baby crops can be deceiving, but it looks promising and is very late, as well. The raised bed and bark bed trials are doing exceptionally well and bore fruit this year.

We have the land for the new farm, so it looks like we are going to be in business for a long while. The site is a mess, however, and will take a few years to clean up and get into production. We expect to begin fruit plantings there in 2010 and 2011. I will be distributing planting stock in 2010 to cooperators.

July 30, 2008

I’ve managed to get into the high country a bit and the crops in northern Idaho look good so far. Fruit set was very good at all elevations I have been at and across a fairly wide area. I finished picking my crop at the Sandpoint R&E Center (2,000 feet elevation) on July 11. I noted pickers in the 3,000 foot elevation range last week and berries seem to be both abundant and quite large at that elevation. Higher up, the berries are still green but set abundantly and seem to be sizing up well.

We’re getting a little more moisture than last year, but it is still very dry and higher elevation berries are likely to be rather smaller than those lower down that are already ripe.

We’ve made more bilberry selections this year (V. myrtillus) and the market demand worldwide is very strong. I just returned from the International Vaccinium Conference where I met with researchers from Finland, Norway, and the Ukraine who are also working to manage or domesticate bilberry. We are sharing information and prospects for the industry appear excellent. Demand is especially great in Europe for the bilberry, but niche markets in the U.S. and Canada could easily be expanded with a little creative marketing.

We have had great success with growing huckleberries and bilberries in raised beds and bark beds under hybrid poplar. I’ll update our website and get information for the Western Huckleberry and Bilberry Association website early this fall.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and success stories.

November 5, 2008

Starting a new industry and fruit breeding can be slow and frustrating. At least we are making good progress on improved varieties and growing practices, as well as forest stand management. I should have a great deal of new information after next year’s sabbatical leave project in the Sawtooth. We are also propagating planting stock for a 2010 distribution.

I appreciate the support and should be able to link your new site to my existing huckleberry pages. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Thanks and good luck.

September 7, 2008

Right now I am tied up with a number of projects, including propagating huckleberries and getting ready for sabbatical. I’m also developing agrant for huckleberry studies establishing and managing berries in forest stands. Should be a perfect case study for your site.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm

Please follow and like us:
Pin Share
Share

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.