I just came in from picking serviceberries (Amelanchier) from a very nice chance seedling tree in my back field. I haven't keyed it out, but I think it's the local strain of A. canadensis.
The berries are quite sweet and had almost no rust on them, compared to Canadian selections which can have over 75% of the berries affected with rust. Between my wife and myself we got enough to make two nice pies and some left over. Think blueberries with a dash of almond. Just be sure to cook them, or separate out the seeds. The seeds contain cyanide, though you'd have to actually chew raw ones in quantity to release enough to do more than make you a little queasy. Cooking destroys the cyanide, so pie, jam, or cobbler is a good use.
Now is the time not only to pick wild serviceberries, but to note good selections worth propagating. You can take suckers, or try seedlings. Many of the seedlings resemble the parent, but with enough variation to give the possibility of a superior selection on occaision.
And the plants are graft compatible with apples and pears, and will dwarf them quite a bit.
So get out there and see what's in your neck of the woods.
What a coincidence. Today I found 3 quite nice selections and brought some budwood home. One had a honey like flavor, no rust whatsoever, about a half inch diameter. Another was a small degree larger, and the third had berries 5/8 inch diameter, also no rust whatsoever, and that from a shaded tree, flavor not like honey, but still nice. I did notice a few kinds out there that did have rust though, so at least I know rust is in the area.
This all from an area removed from my immediate area. My immediate serviceberries are not noteworty whatsoever. I think there must be patches of better genetics lurking out there. You need to be willing to walk around lots of poison oak to get to these things too. Nope, they are not at Camp Adair.
I am thinking that the largest local berry should be bred to one of the Canadian strains, seeing if the disease resistance transfers over in simple proportions. I've got Smokey and Northline to select from. I just have not discovered whether these critters are self pollinators or not. Will be researching that a little more over the winter months. Could make some interesting hybrids.
I had some of the Canadian selections with the idea of breeding them with local types, but the Canadian ones all bloom weeks before the locals and I didn't have time to save pollen. My own feeling is that good selections of the locals will give fruit equal to the Canadian types without having to breed to them.
The ones I picked today came from a bush sufficiently isolated that I have to think it must be pretty well self-pollinating.
I'd love to get wood of your selections to graft to my bush. They would likely cross that way and seedlings would have some great potential.
I concur Lon. If your 'population' is slightly different than mine, then some vigor could result.
Saturday, when I was out there I did not have any marking tape with me. I will go back today with tape and a ladder. Why the ladder? So I can put marking tape high enough that a passing hunter or tresspassing kid will not toy with it. Is this overkill? Any other marking advice/tips appreciated.
BTW, there were plenty of other individuals in the area, some bore hardly any fruit, and what was there was dried up looking. Others merely had smallish fruit. Some trees had zero fruit. There might be a gradation of fruitfulness as well.
One of the reasons I thought to cross to Northline is to bring the heighth of the seedlings down a bit the first generation. Once these native trees get tall, they get pretty inconvenient to pick (fruit too high).
Question: are there other culinary var's that are short, like Northline? Might be good to get all the dwarfing genes possible into the mix.
Western Oregon has three forms of Amelanchier, including the bush type. The nomenclature varies so much I hesitate to call them separate species any more, though supposedly we have A. alnifolia, A. florida, and A. canadensis. The late Bill Schulz found a fairly good bush type in his area (Philomath) that was no more than six feet tall. I had one but it wasn't very sweet and I finally removed it.
If you watch fence rows in the spring you can spot the bush types easily when they bloom. I've seen a few along I-5, but there are a lot more towards the foothills. Hence the ones Bill found near Philomath.
Do serviceberries grow easily from cuttings? I spotted some great varieties, that tasted great and had no rust in Portland on a bicycle organic gardening sustainability tour. Mine get rust and aren't that great tasting, but these were yummy. Unfortunately, the good ones were really a small tree form rather than a bush form.
John S
PDX OR
Serviceberries probably wouldn't root reliably from dormant cuttings, but you might be able to root half-ripe wood in a mist bench with bottom heat. Commercially, tissue culture is the main method these days.
Personally, I'd try to find a sucker to dig up, or get some root cuttings. Root cuttings work pretty well with most of the pome fruits (Serviceberries are a small pome with the same botanical structure as an apple).
Or you could grow seedlings. Some of the Canadian selections come true from seed well enough that farmers often grow them that way. Something like 75 to 90% of the seedlings resemble the parent. Not sure the percentages would be that high with other types, but it's likely you could grow ten seedlings and get at least two or three that would be like the parent. The others could be grafted.
You boys have lost me… but this is amazing! Are these what you’re finding?: 
& 
That’s goggling “Amelanchier canadensis Serviceberries†from http://luirig.altervista.org/photos-int ... densis.htm
[quote="Viron":138csa2g]You boys have lost me… but this is amazing! Are these what you’re finding?: &
That’s goggling “Amelanchier canadensis Serviceberries†from http://luirig.altervista.org/photos-int ... densis.htm[/quote:138csa2g]
That's what we're talking about. That picture looks like one of the southern species, though. The A. alnifolia types here turn pretty much blue-black and have much shorter stems.
Thanks Lon,
I think I may take dormant cuttings and graft them onto my bushes. The bushes get rust, but it's the top of the plant, not the roots that get it. I may be able to convert them into yummy serviceberry bushes that don't get rust, instead of the tree form.
John S
PDX OR
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
1 Guest(s)