Figure 2. Newly planted Sea buckthorn produced from runners (in foreground). This picture was taken in mid September 2005 near Wingham, ON. The summer's buckwheat cover crop had been ploughed under and rye grass planted between rows.
Parts used
Leaves and young branches, Berries.
Woody shrub to small tree hardy to Zone 3 (- 40°C).
Seed Germination
- Will germinate in 3 to 10 days after stratification to break dormancy depending on germination temperature.
- Stratification for 90 days at 3 to 5 °C under moist conditions are required to achieve good germination when sown in the spring or in the greenhouse.
- Fresh seed can be sown directly in the field in the fall covered with 5 mm of soil.
Propagation
- By seed, but seedling will not be identical to female plant, and may be male.
- By softwood cutting - simple, inexpensive, and highly successful
- By hardwood cutting - simple, inexpensive, and moderately successful.
- Root cuttings will propagate quite readily.
- By suckering - simple, inexpensive, but suckers have poor root mass and may suffer transplant shock.
Light
- Full sun
Figure 3. Left Panel: Three year old sea buckthorn trees near Wingham, ON (2005). Right Panel: Four year old trees from the same orchard (2006)
Soil Type
- Sea buckthorn is adapted to a wide variety of soils, and will grow on marginal land including sandy, gravely soils with poor nutrient and water retention capacities. Sea buckthorn thrives on well drained, light to medium sandy loam.
- Has a moderate tolerance for saline soils
- A soil pH between 6-7 is optimum
Moisture Needs
Although drought tolerant, a minimum of 400 mm of annual precipitation is required to ensure good fruit yield. Fruit set at an orchard near Wingham, ON occurred 2 weeks earlier in 2006 compared to 2005. For the period from May 1st to September 1st, both growing degree days (1516 vs. 1362) and crop heat units (2366 vs. 2162), were higher in 2005 compared to 2006, but rainfall was significantly higher in 2006 (335 mm vs. 239.6 mm). The additional rainfall in 2006 likely contributed positively to both the early fruit set and increased yield.
Figure 4. Berry yield from 3 year old sea buckthorn trees (left picture). Maximum fruit set occurs in trees 4 years and older (right picture).
Spacing
- Orchard design is dependent on whether the fruit will be harvested mechanically or by hand. Typical orchards have about 600 to 1000 plants per acre, with 1 male for every 7 female plants.
- Newly planted Sea buckthorn produced from runners (in foreground). This picture was taken in mid September 2005 near Wingham, ON. The summer’s buckwheat cover crop had been ploughed under and rye grass planted between rows.
Harvest
When only a few trees are grown, the berries can be readily harvested by hand, requiring about the same amount of effort as harvesting raspberries. Although the thorniness of the sea buckthorn bushes can be a problem, young plants may be relatively thorn free. Some thornless varieties are currently available, and future breeding efforts should increase their numbers. As the number of trees in the orchard increases, so does the work required for harvesting the berries.
Figure 5. Pruned branch from a 4 year old tree. Berries were later removed by hand for further processing.
Figures from China indicate that up to 1500 person hours per hectare are required for hand harvesting. Hand harvesting at the Wingham area orchard suggests the time to hand harvest per hectare may be significantly higher than 1500 hours, especially when trying to harvest intact berries. The fruit are strongly attached, and are not easily stripped from the branches. Experienced pickers were able to harvest intact fruit at rates of 1-1.5 kg per hour.
The difficulty of removing the fruit from the tree diminishes as the season progresses. Unfortunately, fruit quality also decreases over this same period, so optimum times for harvest will need to be identified for individual growing areas. Successful commercial operation of a sea buckthorn orchard will ultimately require the development and implementation of some type of mechanical harvester. Several types have been developed, including a vibratory shaker invented in Saskatchewan.
As with any crop grown for nutraceutical, medicinal or culinary use, post-harvest handling of sea buckthorn berries should conform to approved Good Agricultural Practices standards. After cleaning, the berries should be processed as soon as possible, but may be either stored at low temperature (4 to 6°C), or flash frozen if immediate processing is not feasible. The shelf life of berries stored at low temperature can be up to 2 weeks.
Berries maintain their shape when thawed after freezing. The fruit harvested from the Wingham orchard is currently being used in both fresh and frozen products which are sold at a farmers market near Huntsville. The fruit is processed into a variety of products, including jelly, juice extracts, nectar salsa and bread made from the pulp and seeds following juice extraction. Young leaves have been dried and ground for use as a tea.
Berry yield from 3 year old sea buckthorn trees (left picture). Maximum fruit set occurs in trees 4 years and older (right picture).
Figure 7. Four year old sea buckthorn orchard as seen from 200 metres. Note the abundance of berries, each of which is no more than 2 cm in length.
Other Considerations
As with any alternative crop, new growers should educate themselves on the cost of production and the market potential of sea buckthorn. Furthermore, prior to making any claims about the nutraceutical or medicinal properties of sea buckthorn, growers must ensure that these claims fall within the regulations established by the Natural Health Products Directorate of Health Canada.
References
Li, T.S.C and Beveridge, T.H.J. 2003. Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides): Production and Utilization. NRC Research Press, Ottawa. (www.monographs.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Zeb, A. 2004. Important therapeutic uses of sea buckthorn (Hippophae): A review. J. of Biological Sciences 4(5): 687-693
This infosheet was authored by Jim Todd, Transition Crop Specialist, Crop Technology Branch, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
© Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2011.
