The clay soil at Devereux farm is baked hard having had six weeks without rain to soften the ground. Some varieties of sea buckthorn at the farm have very shallow surface roots as they find it hard to penetrate our soil. Consequently they really suffer when it is as dry as this year. In past years their leaves curl and fall early. This is particularly relevant to the variety Elizaveta. These conditions also put the plants under additional stress which makes them susceptible to disease – particularly soil borne disease. So, as I walked the rows of sea buckthorn yesterday I was pleased that almost 100% of plants have retained their leaves. Some varieties ( sudarushka and chuiskaya ) are starting to look tired and the tips of the leaves are browning, but on the whole leaf colour is strong and healthy.
I put this into context as a success and progress in understanding how to successfully grow Siberian sea buckthorn in an new soil and climate. It has been a huge disappointment not to have had a crop from the plants this year. I really had thought that 2016 was going to be the first commercial offering of Siberian sea buckthorn berries for the UK market. But life is about learning, and often those lessons are hard. The fact the males came out of last winter in very poor condition meant poor pollination. Poor pollination meant a poor or almost non-existant crop. But now in September, the plants have had a monthly dose of compost tea over this summer. They all look in great condition.
As my plants start to break bud in January, the plan will be to start the compost tea program in late February. Never again do I want to see my male plant leaves yellow and limp in April. So I am looking forward to next year with some confidence that 2016 was that learning curve that provided a formula for a successful crop in 2017.
The major problem outstanding is jackdaws. These are intelligent birds and they just love the sweet Siberian sea buckthorn berries. This last weekend was very busy as the farm assisted in hosting the Essex Wildlife Trust AGM on the Naze. It provided an opportunity to speak to wildlife managers in our local area about the jackdaw problem. It would seem that this is very much a local coastal problem. The birds have bred into flocks of a size that has not been seen before. The problem with this is that they will impact on other species competing for food and habitat.
Having used rockets, kites, flashing ribbon without success in 2015, my first line of defence is going to have to be netting. The supporting poles are now up on one third of the site with wires strung inbetween. A small area of netting will go up to see how it survives the winter. Then the majority will go up in the spring.
A second option has emerged literally out of the hedgerows.
From 1996 to 2008 Devereux farm hosted an International Scout Jamboree. As a four yearly event, in 2012 it all came to an end as the UK Olympics required scouts as volunteers at the same time as the proposed 2012 Jamboree. The events had meant 6-7000 scouts camping on the farm for a week with many day visitors raising the on-farm population to 10,000. Supplying food, water, banking, communication, medical aid was part of the process, but when the last event was cancelled all the miles of water pipe used to supply the campsites were left on the farm. Re-cycle and re-use is always best, finally we are experimenting with using lengths of the old water pipe as supporting hoops for the bird netting. It will be a major project for this winter but if it helps reduce the problem of the jackdaws stealing my sea buckthorn.
The fact that the leaves are still in good condition on the sea buckthorn plants provides another bonus. Over this week I have been drying leaves from all the Siberian and latvian varieties to contribute to a European wide analysis of leaf quality. One of the inspirational concepts from Germany has been the desire to use the whole plant. The berries – juice, fruit oil and seed oil have been the source for products for decades. Leaf however has been used in teas probably for centuries but not as a marketed product. Research has been growing over the last ten years looking at the nutritional profile of leaf, how it can be usedand the benefits it might offer. Understanding its analysis will help in being able to bring it to the market. As a new product ingredient it will need to satisfy regulations on food safety and under the Novel Food regulations. I believe it is high in vitamin B complex but also it should have an interesting profile of polyphenols. So with 4 Latvian varieties and 10 Siberian it will be interesting to see how my plant’s leaves analyse against other grown in Europe.
It is also good to feel that in the post-Brexit world, this UK outpost of the EU sea buckthorn industry still has a value for our EU colleagues.
