Sea buckthorn is never short of surprises. By the end of January every one of our ten Siberian sea buckthorn varieties have decided spring is here. Klaudia started the party on January 5th, Inya was last by January 29th. This is a first as normally the last buds will start to crack open by the end of February.
Our sea buckthorn project started ten years ago. Importing plants from the extreme climate of Siberia to our coastal mild climate was bound to create unpredictable behaviour. We paid the price last year. Early leaf emergence leads to early pollination. The Beast from the East storm in March came as pollination started. Sea buckthorn is wind pollinated with males releasing pollen to be blown onto neighbouring female sea buckthorn plants. The freezing temperatures and strong icy wind made it impossible for any viable pollen released to reach or settle. The result was a few isolated berries on a few plants – nothing else.
There are always solutions, but solutions come having identified a problem but that is the nature of a trial to grow a crop.
Through the last 12 months we have been working on developing our harvesting system. In 2017 the plants had a crop with some Chuiskaya variety plants producing over 10kg. We tried to hand pick. The result was not only slow, but also too many berries being damaged.
The decision was made to follow the German harvesting concept of cutting branches, freezing them and separating the berries off the frozen wood. With the help of a LEADER grant we employed a harvest equipment design company to start on the task. The specification was for a small orchard producing up to 10 tons of berries.
Like all prototypes the initial design needed modifications. The development process will be perfected ready for harvest 2019. Experience from 2017 suggests that harvest will be in July and all ten Siberian varieties will ripen over that month. Having seen a full crop in 2017, lost the crop in 2018, it will be a huge step forward to harvest a full crop in 2019.
It feels similar to the Brexit process. We all know it is going to happen. It is just the detail that remains to be seen.
