>But there isn’t a single commercial huckleberry farm on the continent.
>After early colonial settlers failed to bring the berry to Europe, serious efforts to cultivate the plant began in 1906. More than a century later, the stubborn shrub still hasn’t yielded to captivity. When they’re grown from seed, they are mysteriously devoid of fruit.
I always wondered why there was no commercially grown red huckleberries. It never really dawned on me they would be so difficult to farm.
That being said, a few weeks ago we were out on a walk picking some huckleberries and my cousin pointed out that every single huckleberry shrub we came across wasn't actually growing out of the ground, every single one we found was growing out of a nurse log. Even the ones that looked like at first glance they were growing out of the ground were actually growing out of rotting wood. After he pointed this out, we tried to find just one growing out of soil. We couldn't, every single one was growing out of a dead tree or some other rotting wood.
From what I've researched you _can_ plant them from seeds but it may take 15 years to mature. And not necessarily every plant that you plant will produce.
So if you had a lot of land, and a lot of time (decades) you might be able to cultivate a huckleberry patch, but that's quite a commitment.
What is the difference between huckleberry and European Blueberry? Do they taste different? From my limited googling it almost looks like the same berry.
Both are in the Vaccinium genus. European blueberries are Vaccinium myrtillus. Red huckleberries are Vaccinium parvifolium. Alaskan blueberries are Vaccinium ovalifolium. Then there's evergreen huckleberries which are Vaccinium ovatum. There's also blueleaf huckleberries which are Vaccinium deliciosum.
All of these species look fairly similar.
The one mentioned in the article is Vaccinium parvifolium.
>After early colonial settlers failed to bring the berry to Europe, serious efforts to cultivate the plant began in 1906. More than a century later, the stubborn shrub still hasn’t yielded to captivity. When they’re grown from seed, they are mysteriously devoid of fruit.
I always wondered why there was no commercially grown red huckleberries. It never really dawned on me they would be so difficult to farm.
That being said, a few weeks ago we were out on a walk picking some huckleberries and my cousin pointed out that every single huckleberry shrub we came across wasn't actually growing out of the ground, every single one we found was growing out of a nurse log. Even the ones that looked like at first glance they were growing out of the ground were actually growing out of rotting wood. After he pointed this out, we tried to find just one growing out of soil. We couldn't, every single one was growing out of a dead tree or some other rotting wood.