Silver Buffaloberry

Sow cleaned seed outdoors in mid-SeptemberSep

Macerate the picked fruit and float the pulp off the seed, changing the water several times. Sow the cleaned, non-stratified seed about half an inch deep in mid-September and cover the seedbed with sand to stop it crusting. To raise seedlings indoors instead, stratify the seed 90 days at 41 degrees F to break dormancy. Seedlings can be transplanted after two growing seasons. The seed is a small, very hard achene with a real dormancy - a September sowing lets winter in the ground do the chilling, which is why direct seeding into native grassland works.

Plant bare-root seedlings in spring, and plant both sexes

Set bare-root seedlings out in spring once the threat of frost is past, spacing plants 4 to 6 feet apart, into ground cleared of competing grass. Buffaloberry carries male and female flowers on separate plants, so a lone shrub will never fruit - plant a group and keep at least one male among the females. The species is dioecious and insect-pollinated, mostly by honey bees and bumble bees, so berries only form on female plants that a nearby male has pollinated. Seedlings establish readily when planted free of competing vegetation.

⚠ The shrub is thorny and suckers into thickets, so keep it away from paths and cultivated ground.

Keep grass off young plants, and cultivate shallow

Through the establishment years, keep invading grasses and weeds off the root zone. Where you cultivate, work shallow rather than deep. Control of invading weeds and grasses is the main thing that decides whether a young buffaloberry planting takes, and shallow cultivation works best over its spreading root system.

Skip the nitrogen - this shrub makes its own

Do not push nitrogen fertilizer at an established buffaloberry. On poor, dry, or alkaline ground it needs no feeding to carry a crop. Buffaloberry fixes atmospheric nitrogen in root nodules that hold bacteria, which is a large part of why it tolerates infertile soils - the nitrogen it fixes can even feed the woody species around it.

Cut back suckers straying out of bounds

Watch the ground around the shrub for suckers pushing out beyond where you want the thicket, and cut or cultivate them off. Where you want a dense wildlife thicket or a windbreak row, let the suckers run. Buffaloberry is a suckering, thicket-forming shrub, and suckers left alone will root into lawns, paths and cropped ground. Cultivation stops the spread of shoots and suckers, and regularly cultivated shelterbelts show little sign of suckering.

Thin out old and rotting stems while dormant

Late in the dormant season, before growth begins, cut out dead, damaged and diseased stems at ground level, along with the oldest stems. Thin whole stems rather than shearing the shrub over, and take no more than a third of the stems in any one year, spreading a heavy renovation across three years. White heart rot is a common problem on older buffaloberry, along with stem decay and branch canker, and cutting the diseased wood out prolongs the life of the planting. Extension puts the best pruning window in the late dormant season, before growth begins, and thinning whole stems rather than shearing keeps the flower buds on the stems you leave.

⚠ The stems are thorny - wear heavy gloves and eye protection.

Fence young plants against deer browse before winter

Cage or fence young buffaloberry going into winter, when deer work the twigs hardest and other browse is gone. Shake heavy snow off the stems rather than letting it load up. Deer commonly browse buffaloberry twigs and leaves, and it is a browse source for big game and rodents - repeated browsing sets young plants back badly. Stems are also sometimes broken outright by snow load.

Pick slightly under-ripe for jelly, after frost for fresh

Berries form in late spring and ripen by late summer. For jelly, pick them slightly under ripe. For eating fresh, wait until after a light frost. Harvest by shaking the branches and catching the fruit in a sheet or flat pan spread on the ground, rather than picking through the thorns by hand. Under-ripe fruit carries higher pectin, which is what sets a jelly, while fruit harvested after a light frost tastes sweeter. Ripe berries hang on the shrub and dry ones may still be there the following spring, so there is no rush once they colour.

⚠ The berries contain saponin, which can irritate the digestive system - small amounts carry little risk, but do not eat them in quantity raw.