Haskap Day 2015 Presentation, University of Saskatchewan: Irrigation, Rick Sawatzky

One example of several presentations given on the orchard tour.  Horticulture Field Lab director, Rick Sawatzy, speaks on field irrigation by drip tube...

Are We Going To See You At Haskap Day? That's This Friday...

The University of Saskatchewan's Horticulture Field Lab is located on the north side of 14th Street between Preston and Circle Drive in Saskatoon, SK.  Parking is available for participants only along the south side of 14th Street... 

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Haskap Day 2015 Agenda, June 26 - Part 2

Time: Friday June 26,  8:30 to 4:00

Location:  U of Sask Horticulture Research Farm, U of SK, Saskatoon, SK

In recent years our Haskap Day has been held in mid-July which allowed visitors to see late ripening Haskap in their prime.  But this year we will be able to see early ripening haskap since the event is in late June.  This marks the 10^th anniversary of haskap funding from Saskatchewan Agriculture, which has allowed much larger plantings of haskap.  If you haven’t visited us in the last few years you will be amazed at how many plants we have and the diversity of the collections.

Highlights of what will be on the tour:

• ·       15 acres of haskap seedlings from our breeding program
• ·       Tasting berries and tagging favourite plants in the field
• ·       20 named Russian varieties in good production
• ·       U of Sk named varieties
• ·       Wild Haskap gathered across Canada and their hybrids
• ·       Plants from Japan, Russian and the Kurile Islands
• ·       Strange relatives of haskap: some grow fast and tall but taste disgusting, other creep along the ground
• ·       Demonstration of Johanna harvester
• ·       Demonstration of hand harvesting (swimming pool and tickling methods)
• ·       Demonstration of pruning and pruning equipment 

In the field, attendees are allowed to sample fruit from different bushes.  Each attendee will be given flagging tape to mark superior seedlings.  Later in the season, the breeder will visit every marked plant and evaluate the bushes.

Please, do not chow down and eat many fruits from a favourite bush.  If many fruits from a good bush are eaten we will have no idea that bush was productive and it might never get considered as a new variety.

For Sale:  


Several of our propagators will be having booths, usually taking orders but sometimes bringing plants for sale.  A limited supply of Haskap T-shirts will be available. 


Location:

North side of 14^th Street, between Preston and Arlington avenues.  A big green “HORTICULTURE” sign is next to the gate.  Park on the south side of 14^th st.  There will not be any room in our parking lot.  A map is on our events webpage: http://www.fruit.usask.ca/extension.html

Cost:  $25 per person, Kids and U of SK students free.  $5 more if you want us to order pizza for you, otherwise bring your own lunch.  Cash or Cheques only, we cannot process credit or debit cards

Haskap Day 2015 Agenda, June 26 - Part 1

 Here is the agenda for Haskap Day 2015, which is sponsored yearly at the University of Saskatchewan's Horticulture Field Laboratory, Saskatoon, SK.

This year Haskap Day will be held on June 26...

8:00AM	Haskap Day Agenda, 2015
	8:30 - 9:00 Registration
9:00AM	9:00 – 9:30 Introduction to Haskap and Horticulture Field Facilities
	9:30 – 12:30 Tour of Haskap Fields We will visit various fields.  Bob Bors will point out plants of interest in each field.  There will be ample time to talk to growers and staff, and to sample berries.  This is a good opportunity to ask questions either about your own plants or the things you see in our fields.
10:00AM
11:00AM
12:00 NOON	12:30 – 1:30 Lunch
1:00PM
	1:30 – 2:30 U of S Haskap Research Updates Bob Bors: Haskap Breeding, New research Projects James Dawson: Haskap Nutraceuticals Bayartulga: Greenhouse Haskap, Nutrients for Haskap Plants
2:00PM
	2:30-3:30 Presentations by Growers & Groups Haskap Canada Update IRAP: 4 kinds of grants available for growers Various Propagators These will be 10 minute (or so) talks. Some will be impromptu interviews of growers. If you have a specific topic you want to present, email Bob.bors@usask.ca
3:00PM
	3:30 – 4:00 Growers Forum Open discussions, Questions and Answers. This portion may start earlier if not enough grower presentations occur.
4:00PM
	Note: our facility closes at 4:30, so everyone must leave before then

U of SK Haskap Day...Plan To Attend!

Mark your calendar for this year's Haskap Day at the U of SK - June 26.  This year's field day will emphasize early-bearing selections.  More information will be forthcoming.  See you there!

Haskap Canada 2015 AGM

Haskap Canada Association

Annual General Meeting 2015

Saturday March 28th, 2015

Agriculture Building Map

University of Saskatchewan, Room 1E80

Agriculture Building, 51 Campus Drive

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

(held in conjunction with the Saskatoon Gardenscape event)

9:00 AM to 9:30 AM: Registration – No charge for sessions

9:30 AM to 12:00 AM : Information Sessions – TBA

12:00 Noon to 1:00 PM – Lunch Break

1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – Annual General Meeting 

2:00 PM to 3:00 PM – Open Forum

Directions to  the meeting room: directly connected to the Agriculture Building main lobby, to the right of the washrooms.

- See more at: http://haskap.ca/annual-general-meeting#sthash.9Sc4ZJ6H.dpuf

Haskap Canada - 2015 AGM

Haskap Canada's Annual General Meeting will take place on March 28, 2015 and will again be located on the University of Saskatchewan's campus.  This date coincides with Gardenscape in order to allow attendees to participate in both events.  More information will be posted here as the date approaches...

The 'Privilege' Of Haskap

U of SK Horticulture Field Lab

When it comes to breeding plants it is relatively easy to genetically select and change a single physical characteristic in cross-bred progeny.  But try and change two physical characteristics simultaneously, and it becomes more difficult.  Try breeding for three characteristics, even tougher.  Furthermore, which of these characteristics are most-important?  Complex genetic formulas are not complete until each trait is properly weighted in that formula.  All of this is precisely what makes the Haskap program at the U of SK both unique and successful.  Breeding plants for a wide variety of traits takes resources...human, monetary, training, technology, oversight.  Here are just some of the traits that go into selecting a superior Haskap plant: bloom time, harvest season, fruit weight, fruit shape, fruit firmness, fruit flavour, fruit sweetness, fruit chemical analysis, bush habit of growing, bush vigour, disease resistance, productivity.

Their early Haskap breeding program was funded by plant sales, workshop fees, and volunteer labour.  But beginning in 2007 Saskatchewan Agriculture's Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) awarded three grants that allowed a 10x increase in Haskap research.  With the flourishing of Haskap orchards across Canada royalties from Haskap sales allowed for yet another doubling since 2011 in research both in general as well as in providing stipends to support graduate students involved in the program.  65% of Haskap plant royalties directly fund various aspects of the U of SK's fruit program; 35% of royalties goes toward a general horticulture fund and allows for the purchase and maintenance of equipment and facilities.  It is the success of this program that allows all Haskap growers to succeed.

The World's Best Information, Hands-On Learning: U of SK Haskap Day 2014 (Part 3)

Following lunch we walked the 35+ acres of haskap plantation at the University of Saskatchewan's Horticulture Field Lab on an interactive tour guided by Dr. Bors, accompanied by his field staff.

Before describing the tour itself, here's a constellation of commonly repeated words/phrases spoken by participants while we were tasting and comparing...

...good growth, such big fruit, good selection of flavours, 
delicious, amazing, size, taste, wow!...

I think that it would be fair to say that participants were literally bowled over by the plant growth, plant size, berry size, and ridiculously bountiful amount of fruit on the plants this year...

http://haskap.ca

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

The World's Best Information, Hands-On Learning: U of SK Haskap Day 2014 (Part 1)

Integrating the best haskap research in the world, and providing the opportunity for active participant interaction, the University of Saskatchewan once again hosted their annual Haskap Field Day yesterday.  Here's a snippet showing their Joanna-3 (Weremczuk/Poland) harvester in operation.  Due to heavy rain the night before they were unable to demonstrate actual berry harvesting as they have in previous years.  However, here is a video clearly showing just how the machine works...

http://haskap.ca

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

July 18, 2014 - Haskap Day At The U Of SK!

The U of S offers a full day workshop on Haskap. This day will feature a tour in the morning with a mechanical harvesting demonstration and berry tasting with talks in the afternoon from U of S fruit program staff and growers from around the province. Registration begins at 8:30 and the tour will depart at 9:45. The cost for the day is 25 dollars per person with an option of participating in a pizza lunch for an additional 5. For a detailed itinerary click here.

2014 Haskap Canada AGM (Part 3): Danae Frier & Haskap Pollination Research

Danae Frier is a M.Sc. candidate at the University of Regina. She reported on the pollination biology of Lonicera caerulea at this year's Haskap Canada AGM.

Beginning with plant structure, this provided the ground work for her to speak about the pollination possibilities.  Because of the uniqueness of haskap's two flowers eventually forming one berry study is currently under way to find more precisely the manner in which this mechanism functions. The pollination of this fruit is known to be fully insect-dependent.  The flower is bee-friendly, and given the time of flowering bumble bees and smaller native bees seem important, being inherently more cold-adapted.  Among other things, field studies this year will consider efficiency-compared-to-effectiveness of various pollinators and which factor is more important to haskap fruit pollination.  She also presented on the bumble bee life-cycle, the importance of forage establishment for year-round bee sustenance, and suitable nest sites for native pollinators.

Again, we include her presentation here and ask that if you share them that attribution is included.  Thank you...

 

http://haskap.ca

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html

2014 Haskap Canada AGM (Part 2): James Dawson & The Nutrition Of Haskap

James Dawson is a PhD graduate student at the University of Saskatchewan, in the Department of Plant Sciences.  He has presented at both the University of Saskatchewan's Haskap Day as well as at Haskap Canada AGMs.

At this year's Haskap Canada AGM he spoke on the manner in which antioxidants/polyphenyls are actually metabolized in the human body, which as it is coming to be better understood as an emerging science, will put a whole new slant on how you should approach antioxidants in general, and haskap in particular.  His presentation demonstrates precisely why the resources of university research are critical to better understanding the ongoing revelations that the sciences continue to offer.  

We include his presentation this year entitled, Phenylpropanoids In Lonicera caerulea for your viewing pleasure and ask that if you share them that attribution is included.  Thank you...

http://haskap.ca

http://www.fruit.usask.ca/haskap.html