Has Anyone Had Success With Cloudberries in the UK?

[GardenOfEnglandGardener]

Hi,

I finally put some seeds I received a few months ago, from the Russian Federation, in the refrigerator. I was reading they needed cold to get them started, like the apple seeds which I successfully started off in the refrigerator. Sadly, because the seed packet is in Russian, I cannot translate it. Has anyone had success in a temperate climate?

Thanks.

P.S. this is the exact same seed packet I received:

 

[Marck]

Plant the seeds in a pot now and set it outside where the seeds can cold-stratify with winter chilling.

Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) is a commendable choice. With any luck you will get at least a small crop of exotic fruit, and as well tundra-like beauty and botanical interest for any rockery or container setting.

 

[GardenOfEnglandGardener]

Plant the seeds in a pot now and set it outside where the seeds can cold-stratify with winter chilling.

Cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) is a commendable choice. With any luck you will get at least a small crop of exotic fruit, and as well tundra-like beauty and botanical interest for any rockery or container setting.

Oh thanks! I live in the warmest corner of England, which does concern me. I figured it would be a good challenge to try and grow them. In terms of cloudberry relatives, we already have blackberries, raspberries (both red and white), dewberry (I think), Tayberry and Loganberry in the garden. Blackberry and both raspberries had a good crop this year!

 

[GardenOfEnglandGardener]

I had another look in the refrigerator this morning and it seems a couple of the cloudberry seeds are germinating, or at least starting to. This is exciting stuff! I know they need a lot of sunlight but feel like they could go nicely next to the lingonberry (which will sometimes get shaded by the cherry tree), though we are hoping to construct a pond next year. Just go to make sure enough germinate so they can pollinate each other?

Then I probably will have a lot of work to do in summer watering them. Need to be kept moist after all. Somehow I will have to keep them in the sunlight but also give them damp soil, right? Can't cope with shade if I read correctly.

 

[Larisa]

These are the recommendations for this package of seeds.

A perennial berry with a creeping, branched rhizome quickly populates large areas.
Seeds are best sown in autumn, in moist fertile soil mixed with sour peat. It is recommended to leave crops under the snow for the winter.

At home, the seeds, after mixing with clean sand, are stratified for 30-90 days. at T 3-7 ° C, and then sown in boxes filled with pure peat or a mixture of peat with sand in a ratio of 4: 1 and kept at T 20-25 ° C.

In the spring, the seedlings that appear are planted in a permanent place, leaving 15-20 cm between the plants.
Cloudberry prefers areas with moist, slightly acidic, sufficiently fertile soil and always with good aeration and lighting.

The correct level of soil acidity is pH 4.5-5.

Also, for better development of cloudberries (even on poor soils), it is recommended to add to the prepared substrate a granular mycorrhizal preparation containing beneficial microorganisms living on the root system of the plant.

Care consists in weeding, shallow loosening of the soil, regular abundant watering, so that the soil around the plants is always moist.
It is recommended to add ground sulfur (30g / m2) to the soil or acidify the water used for irrigation with citric or acetic acid (2g / 10l).
Top dressing is carried out once in the spring with a solution of a mixture of organic and mineral fertilizers.
It blooms in May-June, ripens in July-August.

 

[GardenOfEnglandGardener]

These are the recommendations for this package of seeds.

A perennial berry with a creeping, branched rhizome quickly populates large areas.
Seeds are best sown in autumn, in moist fertile soil mixed with sour peat. It is recommended to leave crops under the snow for the winter.

At home, the seeds, after mixing with clean sand, are stratified for 30-90 days. at T 3-7 ° C, and then sown in boxes filled with pure peat or a mixture of peat with sand in a ratio of 4: 1 and kept at T 20-25 ° C.

In the spring, the seedlings that appear are planted in a permanent place, leaving 15-20 cm between the plants.
Cloudberry prefers areas with moist, slightly acidic, sufficiently fertile soil and always with good aeration and lighting.

The correct level of soil acidity is pH 4.5-5.

Also, for better development of cloudberries (even on poor soils), it is recommended to add to the prepared substrate a granular mycorrhizal preparation containing beneficial microorganisms living on the root system of the plant.

Care consists in weeding, shallow loosening of the soil, regular abundant watering, so that the soil around the plants is always moist.
It is recommended to add ground sulfur (30g / m2) to the soil or acidify the water used for irrigation with citric or acetic acid (2g / 10l).
Top dressing is carried out once in the spring with a solution of a mixture of organic and mineral fertilizers.
It blooms in May-June, ripens in July-August.

Good advice. I'm surprised to find somebody who regonises the packet. A few things though:

1. UK government is looking to ban sale of peat based compost soon. I'm not fond of peat. We do have a bag of horticultural sand in greenhouse though, and a ready supple of small rocks for drainage. Soil in our garden is thick clay soil, so maybe I do need to put them in vases...

2. Rather than sulfur, I'm thinking left over coffee grounds would work too? It's what I used to make the soil around the blueberry plants more acidic. But maybe I can get some sulfur if I really need it.

 

[Larisa]

The soil in my garden is also clayey. Therefore, I mix clay with sand and a lot of coniferous litter. I can collect coniferous litter in the forest without restrictions, there is no prohibition here.

I don't grow cloudberries, but I grow rhododendrons and blueberries, which also love acidic soil.

I make a hole of the right size and pour this mixture into it.
I don't use coffee grounds, I don't have that much. But I add a little citric and succinic acid.

There are special fertilizers for acidifying the soil.