Sea Buckthorn (Sea berries) A Super food

Hi all;
Liz and I were gifted a quart of frozen seaberries this past winter.
She had pneumonia at the time, and Permie member Annie told us about sea berries. She then brought us a quart from her own stash to try.
OMG, is it sour!!! She told us to blend it well and add plenty of honey as it was more than a bit tart...
I blended it well, added honey, took a sip, added cane sugar, and then added some more cane sugar...
You only do shot-size drinks of the juice once or twice a day.
Liz got over her pneumonia within a week; typically, it would hang around for two months!
Having consumed all our berries, we went looking for more.
We bought a capped sea berry oil, which also seems to work, but we can not afford to buy it constantly.

So, we will grow it.  
Sea Berries grow from sea level up to 12,000'.
It is highly drought resistant and a nitrogen fixer; the deer do not like it, and it is loaded with really good stuff!

We have three female and one male plant being delivered next week.
I have read up on planting and growing.
Loves full sun; grows 14' tall
It takes 3-5 years to start getting berries.

Annie has shared her connection in Spokane, where we can buy more plants and, this fall, organic berries.

I wish we had started this five years ago, but better late than never.

It doesn't just like sun, it seems to really need it.

I had a deer pull out a young one by the roots, so if your plants are babies, I'd consider protecting them a little for a couple of years if your deer pressure is high.

They sprout from roots, so expect them to spread if they're happy.

Make sure you keep them labelled as the flowers are difficult to tell apart. That way, you will be able to tell whether sprouts are boys or girls.

Mine have never fruited, but my girls are still very young, so good to know they may take 5 years. That's not as bad as Monkey Puzzle trees!

How come they taught us all about "flowers" in elementary school, and never taught us just how many plants either produce only one sex per plant, or the different sexes are on different flowers. Seaberry, Monkey Puzzle, Kiwi, Gingko for single sex- anymore anyone? I'm less sure about the different flower plants other than hazelnuts.

Everything here grows more slowly than other places, but by the time the bushes are five feet tall (which is about 5-6 years for me), they're producing as in the picture below.

If I'm remembering the details right, Sean at Edible Acres talks about freezing the juice in ice cube trays and then using them to cool and flavor water when they're working hard in the summer.

For people in Europe, I got mine from Lubera.  He has a few bred by a Ukrainian researcher - specifically I picked Ukraine Freedom, which is supposed to be both sweet and thornless.  We’ll see… (The thorny male is tucked into a corner that I don’t need to get to often; the three females are more accessible.)

They’re probably not getting enough sun, and while they’re growing, they’re kind of flopping over.  Should I stake them? Fertilize them?

I have sea berry on my old property.  I have a couple varieties.  I can't remember the names currently, but mine are delicious.  They are very tart if they aren't all the way ripe, but once ripe, they sweeten up some and I love them.  I didn't know it was medicinal, I just love the taste.  Chickens adore them too.  Mine got very shaded out by some larger trees around them, but this is a good reminder to see if I can get some cuttings from them this spring.  If I remember correctly, cuttings have gotten pretty expensive.  I'll have to see if I can get some to take.

Forgot to add, they are among the thorniest plants I have.  These things are truly brutal, so be cautious.

If anyone has some rooted cuttings for sale, I would be interested in buying a few.  

Trace Oswald wrote:this is a good reminder to see if I can get some cuttings from them this spring.  If I remember correctly, cuttings have gotten pretty expensive.  I'll have to see if I can get some to take.

They usually shoot up from runners around the base of the mature trees and I've had good luck spading up those runners and moving them.

Christopher Weeks wrote:

Trace Oswald wrote:this is a good reminder to see if I can get some cuttings from them this spring.  If I remember correctly, cuttings have gotten pretty expensive.  I'll have to see if I can get some to take.

They usually shoot up from runners around the base of the mature trees and I've had good luck spading up those runners and moving them.

I can try that too if they haven't been too shaded out and died by now.  I haven't lived on the property for a couple years, everything is very neglected over there.

The oil content is what makes me interested in these berries.
Getting fats from a temperate climate fruit feels very useful for food security.
Nuts are good, but you have to fight the animals for them.
Sea Buckthorn doesn't seem to have that problem.
The possibility of selling the juice at a premium is also very appealing.


The thorns plus the the need for sun give me some pause.
I am still bearing the scars from hard  pruning my hardy orange tree.
If it still doesn't fruit after the whacking I gave it this year, I'm pulling it out of the sunny spot it occupies.
The other sunny spots are near sidewalks or neighbors that I actually like.
We do have some family land that has great sun, and could use some neighborly deterrence.

William Bronson wrote:...could use some neighborly deterrence.

Brother, if you are looking for deterrence, sea berry is a great choice  I can't see how anyone could possibly get through a hedge row of this stuff without armor.  The thorns are truly impressive.  A staggered row of them would keep out any but the most determined interloper.

I see that Sea Buckthorn can be grown in a tree form.
That could be really handy.
Would the trunk still have thorns?
The photos on line make it seem like the answer is no, but what is the reality on the ground?

Yesterday, our Seaberry plants arrived.
Exceptional packaging. A full heavy-duty box, clearly labeled live plants.
All four plants were securely attached inside with labels to identify the variety of females we got and the one male plant to pollinate.  
All plants were in fine condition and showed no stress from their UPS trip.
I am very happy with the nursery that supplied these, They have great email communication and super fast shipping.  
Next, I need to see if a backhoe is available to dig for me or if I need to go dig holes myself.

Congratulations! You've got new babies!!!

I hope they grow and prosper an give you lots of fruit.

Also amazes me that they are already leafed out - mine have shown no signs yet. Climate is everything!

Anyone know if the leaves are human edible?

thomas rubino wrote:Yesterday, our Seaberry plants arrived.
Exceptional packaging. A full heavy-duty box, clearly labeled live plants.
All four plants were securely attached inside with labels to identify the variety of females we got and the one male plant to pollinate.  
All plants were in fine condition and showed no stress from their UPS trip.
I am very happy with the nursery that supplied these, They have great email communication and super fast shipping.  
Next, I need to see if a backhoe is available to dig for me or if I need to go dig holes myself.

I'm assuming you bought "the bundle"?  After seeing your plants, I just ordered the same from them.  Thanks for posting and encouraging me to pull the trigger :)  I've been considering getting them again for a couple years, your post reminded me how much I liked my previous plants.

I'm still going to try some cutting from the plants at my other property if they have survived.  I can't believe I'll ever have more of them than I want.

I've tried cuttings a few times now and still batting zero. Starting them from seed isn't all that appealing to me because I'd like to be able to give people sexed plants. I am starting to see root suckers pop up, but I saw somewhere on the interwebs that it's the males that tend to spread this way (I could draw some metaphor to human behaviour here but I won't because I'm well past the days of sowing wild oats). Maybe I'll try layering next. Welding gloves or chain mail will be required.

Phil Stevens wrote: Maybe I'll try layering next.

Do your plants have any small branches coming out fairly close to the ground? I've had some success by cutting a flap in the side of a #10 pot, feeding a branch through the hole and upward and filling all around it with dirt. I put a reservoir under the pot, as keeping the soil moist has been key in my climate for getting rooting.

I admit there have been a number of plants that seem to propagate by cuttings with no trouble for other people, but not me. That said, I'm starting to learn that the time of year you try the cuttings system can be very different for different plants. My "ToDo" list now has some month specific entries, as I *really* want some Salal to plant in specific spots and past efforts at both layering and cuttings didn't work.

William Bronson wrote:The oil content is what makes me interested in these berries.
Getting fats from a temperate climate fruit feels very useful for food security.
Nuts are good, but you have to fight the animals for them.
Sea Buckthorn doesn't seem to have that problem.
The possibility of selling the juice at a premium is also very appealing.

Yep, fatty fruits are severely lacking in cool-temperate climates. Are there actually any others beside sea buckthorn and the others in the family Elaeagnaceae?

Sea buckthorn grows wild along the shores around here, there's a lot close to my parents' place. There is definitely some competition with animals for the berries, except it's geese rather than squirrels. So if you keep geese or there are wild ones in your area you might have to watch out. Of course, the wild bushes around here are quite low, often below one meter (not sure why) so probably geese wouldn't reach all the berries on the taller cultivated ones. Not sure how interested other birds are.

Also, I've seen goats eat the bushes, and a friend of mine had his bushes girdled by voles over winter. I think I read that the bark (unlike the berries hehe!) contains quite a bit of sugar, so is attractive to critters that can get past or between the thorns.

Jay Angler wrote:Do your plants have any small branches coming out fairly close to the ground? I've had some success by cutting a flap in the side of a #10 pot, feeding a branch through the hole and upward and filling all around it with dirt. I put a reservoir under the pot, as keeping the soil moist has been key in my climate for getting rooting.

They do have a profusion of branches, and there are some lower down that are likely candidates for this technique. I've done a similar thing (with bags instead of pots) with pomegranates and macadamias and suspect that it will be the simplest way for me to get some known-sex propagation happening. I think I'll go in first with my fruit-thinning snips and cut off all the thorns, because I dislike the stabby part.

Christopher Weeks wrote:
If I'm remembering the details right, Sean at Edible Acres talks about freezing the juice in ice cube trays and then using them to cool and flavor water when they're working hard in the summer.

Ooh great idea! I use ice cube trays to freeze a lot of things including batches of herbs and citrus juice! Every morning I plop at least one lemon juice Cube into my water.
When I  finally have land I will try to remember to plant these right away.

Sea Buckthorn was featured in a food forest presentation out here on the West Coast circa 2011, and I ran out and got some seeds, started them, kept them in pots on the sun deck until they were about a foot tall with really nasty thorns. Sad to say, deer love them. The morning after I planted them in the yard, the local ungulate mafia ate them to within a centimetre of the ground, nasty thorns and all. Your results may differ. If I ever decide to do this again, the plants will remain within the fenced area, the ungulate mafia exclusion zone.

Jay Angler wrote:

Anyone know if the leaves are human edible?

Yes, the leaves are edible!

The best way to harvest berries is to carefully clip the branch (they enjoy a prune every year) and freeze the branch with ripe berries. Do this in a single layer, on a cookie sheet or similar, keeping all the branches pointed in the same direction.  

Once they are frozen you can strip the berries off the branch in ONE direction only, and mostly accomplish it unscathed.  Lots of leaves will come off too, but my Russian friend says all the leaves and bark bits are also very medicinal.

The vitamin C / antioxidant and bioflavonoid content of this berry is off the charts.  Omegas including 7, and essential fatty acids, Very restorative for us (and also for poor soils.)

Ben Falk's book the Resilient Farm and Homestead has good info.

I've had my seaberries in the ground for 6 years now that I bought from seedlings. They are happy, 15 feet tall, thorny as heck and spreading all over the place. You'd think the nursery would mention this in their description???
I've not seen a single berry! Every spring I try and sex them. This year I was more thorough and didn't wait too long to sex the buds and , gosh, I think all 20 of them are males? What are the chances of getting 100% males in a batch of seedlings. Bummer.

The goats love to lean over the fence and nibble on them, nasty thorns and all. Maybe I ought to transplant all the males into the goat browse area and start over again?

Maybe all but one!  

Sunny Baba wrote:

The goats love to lean over the fence and nibble on them, nasty thorns and all. Maybe I ought to transplant all the males into the goat browse area and start over again?

Siberian Cedar Nut Oil enriched with Sea Buckthorn
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Website Rigning Cedars of Russia
For more info checkout
   Incredible Benefits of Cedar Nut Oil Plus The Effect of Sea Buckthorn Oil!;

My female sea buckthorn have invaded the rest of my garden with persistent underground runners and sprouts up from them
3 times my males have died out so now I need to get another male again. Hoping for more abundant berries.
The females grow tall and vigorously and produce a few delicious berries, seemingly even without any male.
This from the San Juan Islands in Washington State.

I started mine several years ago and last year I had my first crop!

I’ve found that my boy & girl plants like to send out babies via roots. I’ve dug up a few to give away already. I also found that rooting branches is fairly easy too.
R

William Bronson wrote:
Would the trunk still have thorns?

Mine, yes I went out into the snow to check, do not have thorns. As I’ve grown mine up I’ve been knocking them off and they don’t seem to grow back.

There's a nice write up on PFAF about sea buckthorn (including at very bottom my comment from 4/5/2012 about our many bushes): https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Hippophae+rhamnoides.

"Growing very well in USDA zone 6 northern Utah, USA, without supplemental irrigation (12-16" rain annually), in very compacted alkaline soil. Began fruiting in 3rd year, ensure you have male & female plants. Fruit is VERY tasty, hangs well on the bush for weeks. We cut fruit-laden branches and freeze, then rap on a surface to get the berries to drop off, which is easier than navigating the thorns with hand-harvesting. We run the berries through a food mill and freeze the undiluted uncooked juice in ice cube trays for later use. Makes a very delicious morning beverage combined with plain yogurt and a bit of carrot juice for sweetening. Leaves make a nice tea and can be prepared via fermentation similar to black tea preparation. Leaves also suitable for animal forage. Our ducks enjoy them."

I misplaced a batch of frozen berries for several years, and when I found them, I potted them up and they all sprouted. In the old patch, if the soil was disturbed, they would sprout babies. We would dig them up and sell them to folks.

Our local birds did not bother them for the first 8 years...then they discovered them and would nibble, but not clear the entire bush.

I have used the foliage to feed rabbits, chickens, duck, and goats.
I enjoy the tea made from the leaves as well. Free tea! Gotta love it.

Folks I know from Russia and the Ukraine have mentioned they have the juice in the market and drink it as a morning beverage, much like we do Orange Juice. This is where I got directions for sweetening it with carrot juice and mellowing it with yogurt. Very nice flavor served this way. I use it to make savory dishes as well, like Sea-Buck Curried Chicken (or veggies) and Saffron Sea Buckthorne Lentil Soup.

Varieties I have grown include:
Amber Dawn
Garden’s Gift
Liekora* (favorite flavor)
Orange Energy
Sunny (didn't do as well for me)
Male

I purchased my original plants from One Green World and Raintree Nursery.

What to say about our sea berries…

I planted them maybe 8 or 10 years ago, and began harvesting a few years later. We made preserves. Lots of preserves, which last a long time around here because, well, it’s not the most popular item in the pantry.

The taste is unique, and difficult to describe. Earthy, maybe a touch of citrus, rustic nuttiness, tangy tart sweetness. Hmm. I have a spoonful in my mouth right now and see that my description is lacking.

Our bushes are, alas, no more. I planted them where I was forced to share their space when doing regular house maintenance, and oh, the thorns. So I trimmed them back hard, which killed them. Because the transformation from berry to jam can be a bit tedious, and the jam we made appeals to just a select few, replanting was voted down.

The bright spot in this little tale is that the generalized taste disapproval has created a nice backlog of jars!

people talk about plants "around here " a Lot - can we see the region they live in please?

thomas rubino wrote:Yesterday, our Seaberry plants arrived.
Exceptional packaging. A full heavy-duty box, clearly labeled live plants.
All four plants were securely attached inside with labels to identify the variety of females we got and the one male plant to pollinate.  
All plants were in fine condition and showed no stress from their UPS trip.
I am very happy with the nursery that supplied these,

Thomas, you've inspired us to try again. Tried planting these a few years back, and I'm guessing the location was too wet in the spring. One Green World is a little spendy, but they always do a fantastic job with packing and shipping.

They showed only 14 males left in stock, so if anyone's thinking about it, now would be the time.

Anore Jones wrote:My female sea buckthorn have invaded the rest of my garden with persistent underground runners and sprouts up from them
3 times my males have died out so now I need to get another male again. Hoping for more abundant berries.
The females grow tall and vigorously and produce a few delicious berries, seemingly even without any male.
This from the San Juan Islands in Washington State.

Me too!  I have purchased 4 females in two orders and all are alive and thriving.  I have purchased 4 males in four different orders and only one is still alive.  If I get good growth on the male this year I will graft a few limbs to my females for insurance, if it dies the females will have to go.

I bought seeds last year for unsexed thorny wild type before I got booked for surgery and never germinated them so I hope to have some success this spring.. I will make sure they get full sun. Thanks for the tips!

Very nice to hear about your experiences! I have three sea berry trees to plant (one male, two females). Looking forward to trying these. Good to know they are so sour!

I have dry eyes and one of my landscape customers suggested sea buckthorn caplets as a supplement. I started taking one caplet a day and no longer use drops in my eyes several times a day, I do use ivizia eye gel for severe/night dry eyes - preservative free, one time when I go to bed (one small tube lasts me at least 5 days, so the 30 count of tubes lasts a long time.

the omega 7 really helps with tear production.   Curt

Benson Smith wrote:people talk about plants "around here " a Lot - can we see the region they live in please?

In my case - Scandinavia! My parents live in north-ish Sweden, Baltic Sea coast. Some people have their location listed in their profile, in that case you see it below their name.

Does anyone (in Maine perhaps for pickup?) have any fruits, frozen or fresh, or cuttings for sale? The description of the sour taste sounds lovely to me!

I’ve had success planting seeds from sun-dried and frozen fruits like goji and cranberry so thought this may also make it easier to sprout sea buckthorn from the berry as well.

When my family was living in the Netherlands for a year, i often saw Seaberries growing wild and fruiting like crazy. The soil is sandy there, and the plants were growing in full, hot sun along bike paths with zero irrigation. That said, it does rain in summer there. They were only about 6 feet tall or so--perhaps a different variety.

Here in my region (the North-East of the Netherlands) there's a nursery called Arborealis, specialised in perennials, shrubs and trees for permaculture and food-forests. I bought one Sea-berry bush there (was it last year or the year before?). Nothing was mentioned about male or female ... Anyway: it grows well in my sandy soil.

This seems like a good place to order plants.
John shared with this with me in another thread:

https://www.burntridgenursery.com/mobile/UNSEXED-SEABERRY-SEEDLINGS-Hippophae-rhamnoides/productinfo/NSSEUNS/

Those of you who have seedling sea buckthorn, is it worth while, or should I spend more and get named varieties?

Hi Angela,

Welcome to Permies.