Boreal Beast Haskap
Boreal Beast Haskap
Species: Lonicera caerulea
History: Boreal Beast was developed by Bob Bors at the University of Saskatchewan as part of the Boreal series of haskaps. The goal of the Boreal series is to cross haskaps from Russia, Japan, and the Kuril Islands to create superior cultivars with the best qualities of all three strains. Boreal Beast was rated very highly for flavour in the breeding program. Named after Beauty and the Beast, Boreal Beast was intended to be the pollination partner for Boreal Beauty but in practice it has been found that their pollination times don't quite overlap.
Why We Grow It: Boreal Beast is noted for its excellent flavour with a great aroma and pleasant aftertaste. The shrub itself is quite vigorous and sturdy, and produces good-sized crops of delicious medium-sized berries.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Fresh eating, juice, jelly
Fruit Size: Medium
Storage: Keeps about a week when stored in the fridge
Harvest: July - Early
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 2
Soil Preference: Prefers average conditions and well-drained soil but is adaptable to anything except clay
Flowering Time: Middle
Bloom Colour: Greenish-White
Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator of a different haskap variety to produce fruit, Boreal Beast has a long bloom time which makes it a good pollinator for other varieties.
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Shrub grows up to 2m tall, highly vigorous with an upright growth habit. Resistant to powdery mildew. Flowers mid to late spring. Harvest early July, let it sit out a few days to ripen further for optimal sweetness
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.
Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Haskaps are divided into the following grades:
- 2 year plant - 20-40cm
There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.
Unless specified, heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).
Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.