Aronia in America

Aronia seeds for sale

2013-03-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

We do not sell aronia seeds. You can either purchase seeds from nurseries that sell them or you can extract seeds from aronia fruit yourself.

This post includes a list of businesses that that sell aronia seeds. To view that list, click on the title of this post or the words "Read more" below and to the left of the picture.

To purchase seeds, you can also click on the Amazon ad entitled "Black Chokeberry Tree Seeds" shown in the right column when you scroll down on this page.

How to sow seeds indoors

(Photo from GardenersWorld.com)

Extracting seeds from aronia fruit

One way to extract the seeds from aronia berries is to place the fruit into a Ziploc bag, seal, and mash the fruit through the bag with my fingers. Then let the fruit decay for a few days, mashing the fruit periodically. After a few days to a week, the pulp will have decayed from a firm substance to a fairly watery one. Fresh aronia berry pulp tends to cling tenaciously to seeds; rotted pulp tends not to.

Dump the mass of pulp and seeds into a large bowl and fill 2/3 with clear water. Rub the pulp/seed around with your hands, squeezing and rubbing the seeds to remove as much as possible. Place the pulverized pulp and seeds in a jar half-full of water. Put the lid on the jar and shake it vigorously. Do this several times. The viable seeds will tend to sink, while the lighter pulp will tend to float. Carefully pour off most of the water and pulp. Refill the jar and repeat several times. If all goes well, you'll have a collection of clean seeds at the bottom of the jar.

If the pulp is especially tenacious and difficult to separate from the seeds, then a quick trip in the blender along with 1/2 cup water or so will usually remove stubborn pulp. Quick bursts are best and be careful not to overdo it, as damaging the seeds is a concern with this method.

After the pulp has been adequately removed, fill the jar of seeds with 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 5 parts water. Hydrogen peroxide is a mild disinfectant. Shake the jar for a minute or two, rinse thoroughly, and your seed is now clean.

Seeds should be thoroughly dried before storage and subsequent planting. Seeds can be planted immediately in the fall or given 2 to 3 months of cold stratification. The seeds’ internal dormancy can be overcome by stratification in moist peat for 3 to 4 months at 32-41 degrees Fahrenheit before planting.

Viking, Nero, and several other aronia cultivars will come true from seed. That’s because they have a high degree of apomixis. This means that aronia cultivars reproduce from unfertilized seeds (apomictic seeds). The embryos grow from somatic cells, not from fertilized egg cells. The seedlings are genetic duplicates of each other and their parent. In other words, they are clones. It also means that these aronia cultivars do not require self-pollination or cross pollination for fruit production.

However, seedlings grown from aronia cultivars should only be referred to as seedlings of the parent cultivar. For example, plants grown from Viking seeds should be called seedlings of Viking or Viking seedlings.

Genetic tests, done by Dr. Mark Brand at the University of Connecticut, have indicated that the popular aronia cultivars Viking and Nero probably resulted from cross pollination of Aronia melanocarpa and Sorbus aucuparia. In other words, Viking and Nero have some genes that came from European mountain ash. In fact, the genus Sorbus has the ability to easy cross with other genera in the Rosaceae family. Genes from European mountain ash may account for some of the unique characteristic expressed by Viking and Nero. But there are other reasons that may also explain why they are so different from wild aronia plants.

Viking and Nero are polyploids rather than diploids like the wild species, Aronia melanocarpa. Diploid plants have two sets of chromosomes but polyploid plants have more than two complete sets of chromosomes. In fact, many cultivated crop plants and ornamental landscape plants are polyploids. Their wild relatives are often diploids but wild species can also be polyploids. Botanists estimate that about three fourths of flowering plant species are polyploids. Most polyploid plant species arose as a result of hybridization between two species, followed by repeated self-fertilization.

Polyploid plants often have characteristics that make them commercially more valuable than the corresponding diploids. In general, polyploid crop plants and polyploid ornamental plants are larger and more robust than their diploid relatives. They often have sturdier stems, thicker leaves, and larger fruit. Their flowers are bigger with thicker petals and they last longer. Polyploid plants often produce more fruit or grain than their respective diploid wild species.

Many cultivated polyploid plants reproduce more easily by asexual means as compared to their diploid relatives. But diploids tend to reproduce more easily by sexual means (seed). Polyploid cultivars are often partially sterile and seed production is reduced.

Viking, Nero, and several other aronia cultivars have a high degree of parthenocarpy. This means that they set fruit without pollination or fertilization and, consequently, most of the fruit is seedless or only contain a few viable seeds.

Aronia seeds have an internal dormancy that can be overcome by a moist, chilling period. This treatment is called stratification. Here are the steps to stratify aronia seeds:

1. Soak the seeds in water overnight

2. Place the seeds in a moist material such as milled sphagnum peat

3. Refrigerate the seeds for 3 to 4 months at 33 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit.

After the aronia seeds are stratified, plant them no more than one-quarter inch deep in a container filled with a moist, well-drained germination medium. Cover with glass or plastic and keep the container moist, but not soggy. Aronia seeds should germinate in 3 to 4 weeks at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit bottom heat. As soon as the seeds germinate, place them under bright lights or move them to a greenhouse or cold frame.

For nursery production of seedlings, plant aronia seeds outdoors in well prepared beds in September. If it does not rain, then water the seedbeds before the ground freezes. The seeds will naturally receive cold treatment during the winter. The aronia seeds should start to germinate when the seedbed warms up in the spring.

When a nursery propagate aronia plants from seeds, they may unwittingly misidentify the seed or seedlings by labeling them with the seed parent’s name. Or they may simply list them for sale as aronia seeds or aronia seedlings. If that is the case, then you might want to ask the nursery for the name of the parental plant. For example, if the seeds are being sold as aronia seeds, then you might want to ask the nursery if the seeds came from Viking, Nero, or some other source.

The following businesses sell aronia seeds but I do not know the source of the seeds. If you want to know the seed source, then you will need to ask the business if the seeds came from Viking, Nero, or some other source. (Click on the business name to go to the business website.)

Rich Farm Garden Supply (50 seeds for $6.50, 1 lb. for $129.60)

Sheffield’s Seed Company (106 seeds for $3.95)

Bountiful Gardens (40 seeds for $2.50)

F.W. Schumacher Co. (1 ounce for $10.35)
VanDusen Seed Collectors (25 to 30 seeds for $4.50)

If you have experience growing aronia seeds or if you have questions about growing aronia plants from seeds, then please post a comment in the box below.

Thank you,

Dr. Eldon Everhart

How far south can aronia be grown?

2011-04-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

The native range of black chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, extends south into north Georgia at higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. Like most plants, Aronia melanocarpa will grown outside of its native range. How far outside of its native range it will grow depends on a number of factors such as cold hardiness and chilling requirements.

Aronia cultivars, such as Viking and Nero, can also be grown in areas other than the native ranges of their parents. Where they can be grown also depends on their cold hardiness and chilling requirements. Freezing temperatures are a major factor limiting the geographical locations suitable for growing aronia and periodically account for significant losses in plant productivity.

Aronia cultivars such as Viking and Nero need cold temperatures in winter

Dormancy requirement:

During the summer, deciduous plants develop leaf buds and fruiting buds that will grow the next year. Most perennials plants that are native to the northern temperate zone undergo a yearly period of leaf buds and flower bud dormancy. This is an adaptive response to survive unfavorable winter conditions. Most northern deciduous trees, shrubs, and vines, as well as bulbs and other perennial plants are dormant during the winter.

Dormancy in deciduous woody plants protects them from cold damage during the winter. Changes in the physical and chemical processes that cause most northern deciduous plants to go dormant are triggered by longer nights and colder temperatures in late summer and fall.

  Many plants increase in freezing tolerance upon exposure to low nonfreezing temperatures, a phenomenon known as cold acclimation. Research has shown that cold acclimation includes the expression of certain cold-induced genes that function to stabilize membranes against freeze-induced injury. This is one of the basic mechanisms that plants have evolved to survive freezing temperatures.

The other environmental signal which triggers the onset of dormancy is daylength or photoperiodism. Photoperiodism is the reaction of the plant to the length of day or night. For most temperate woody plants, long days (short days) promote vegetative growth and short days (long nights) trigger dormancy.

As days get shorter and cold weather sets in, deciduous plants drop their leaves and begin to go dormant. At the same time, other physiological changes occur in bark and buds to protect the plants from the oncoming winter cold. These are natural adaptations that plants have developed that allows them to survive in a cold climate.

The physical and chemical processes involved in achieving and leaving dormancy are complex. Plants gradually go into dormancy over a period of several weeks. Maximum cold hardiness usually occurs by mid-winter. Plants also gradually come out of dormancy.

Chilling requirement:

  The changes that allow plants to come out of dormancy are triggered by the amount of time the plant is exposed to cold temperatures which is known as the plants chilling requirement. A plant that is in a true dormant state will not grow if adequate chilling has not occurred. This is true even if the plant brought into warm, favorable conditions.

  Like many other fruit crops, aronia plants develop immature flower buds in late summer or fall during the year before they flower. Before aronia flower buds open in the following spring, the plant and its flower buds must be exposed to a period of cold weather or winter rest. This is known as the chilling requirement and it naturally occurs as a consequence of cold winter weather.

Most woody deciduous plants that have evolved in cold climates have a chilling requirement. This includes fruit trees like apples, peaches, etc., as well as small fruits such as elderberries, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, etc. For aronia, the actual chill requirements have not been determined by research studies. My best guess based on where I have observed ‘Viking’ aronia being grown in the United States is that it probably requires somewhere between 800 and 1,000 chilling hours.

Approximate Chilling Requirements
Based on data from Chandler, etal. (1937)

From IowaProduce.Org Newsletter

The chilling requirement of a plant is often expressed in chill hours. Deciduous plants need a minimum number of “chilling hours” or chilling units (CU) in order to break out of dormancy and produce new leaves and flowers in the spring. This is the amount of chill needed to satisfy a deciduous plant’s dormant or rest requirement, plus the amount of heat required before flower buds and leaf buds will break and begin to grow in the spring. Most deciduous plants need a specific number of hours within a certain cold temperature range to satisfy their chilling hour requirement.

      In other words, chilling hours are the number of hours below a certain temperature that are accumulated by a plant during the winter to overcome dormancy. The amount of chill needed to satisfy a plants dormant rest requirement, plus the amount of heat required to initiate growth, determines how long flower and leaf buds will remain dormant. In general, the lower the chill requirement, the earlier a plant will bloom.

      Deciduous plants that do not receive the proper amount of chilling hours during the winter will usually leaf out erratically, later than normal, or not at all. They may also have problems flowering and forming fruit.

      There are several physiological factors that influence the chilling requirement of each species and cultivar. Each plant species has a particular chill requirement. Cultivars within the same species may also have different chilling requirements. The number of necessary chill hours and the exact chilling temperature will vary depending on the species and the cultivar of each plant species.

       The chilling hour requirement for most of the common commercially grown fruit species and many of their cultivars have been determined. However, the chilling hour requirement of Aronia melanocarpa and its cultivars is not well known.

Chilling requirement models:

      There are several models that have been developed to estimate the chilling requirements of deciduous plants. These models are used to calculate accumulated chill and estimate chilling requirements. The two simplest models that are most often used are the 45 and under model and the 32-45 model. The complexity increases with the more recently developed models. In these models, hours of chilling received are expressed as “chill units.” Even though accuracy may increase with complexity, the nature of the calculations and record keeping is daunting.

The 45 and under model is the earliest and most simple model and is still in use. Simply put, every hour below 45°F (degrees Fahrenheit) equals one chill hour received. No magic here, but it does not define when one starts to record chill in the fall, or when it doesn’t matter anymore in the spring.

The 32-45 model is a bit more definite about the cold but much more complicated about when chilling is accumulated. This model says any hour of cold between 32 and 45°F. contributes one hour to satisfying a plant’s chilling requirement. According to the 32-45 model, temperatures below 32°F don’t contribute to accumulated chill. The chill hour map for the 32-45 model developed as a result of research done at the University of Maryland can be used to estimate the chill hours for your area.

Chilling hour map based on 32-45 model

(Research done at the University of Maryland)

The Utah Model is one of the most recent and most complexity models. It says that:

1 hour of chill below 34°F is worth nothing

1 hour at between 35 and 36°F gets 1/2 a chill hour

1 chill hour is given at 37 to 48°F

49 to 54°F gets only 1/2 a chill hour

55 to 60°F get no chill hours

Above 60°F is all negative chill

Chilling requirement of aronia:

In 2009 and 2008, I consulted on a test planting of 200 ‘Viking’ aronia plants that were planted in south-central Georgia near the Florida border on a cooperator's fruit farm. Liners that were about six to eight inches tall were planted in the spring of 2008. By mid-summer of that year, the plants had grow to about three feet in height. The plants were healthy, vigorous, and pest free.

As a trial, I recommended that half of the plants should be sprayed with Dormex (hydrogen cyanamide) at the rate recommended for peach trees. Dormex is a plant growth regulator that will stimulate more uniform budbreak on many deciduous plants. The Dormex label lists several deciduous fruit crops including apples, blueberries, cherries, grapes, kiwee, and peaches but not aronia. (This was a test planting and the fruit were not going to be eaten.) When used on labeled plants, Dormex will cause a more uniform bud break if the plants have received their full or somewhat less than their full chill hour requirement. Promoting more uniform bud break in the spring can have significant benefit in promoting more uniform flowering and more uniform maturity at harvest.

In 2010, the aronia plants treated with Dormex and the untreated plants leaf out in June, which was very late for that area of the country. During that growing season, none of the aronia plants grow much if at all. In early fall, the aronia plants were ripped out and olive plants were planted.

This test planting seems to indicate that ‘Viking’ aronia plants probably need at least 800 chilling hours. The plants do not get enough chilling hours when planted south of the northern part of USDA Hardiness Zone 7. When planted further south than Zone 7, Aronia melanocarpa and its cultivars will probably not get enough chilling hours to satisfy their need for a cold, long winter. However, there may be some differences in the chill hour requirements of other cultivars of Aronia melanocarpa. Further testing is needed.

If you have experience growing any of the cultivars of Aronia melanocarpa in southern areas, please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

Is it chokeberry or chokecherry?

2011-03-22T11:54:00.002-07:00

Black chokeberry is one of the common names for Aronia melanocarpa. The name “chokeberry” can easily be misunderstood or misread as the word “chokecherry.” Chokecherry is the common name for a different plant -- . In fact, the two plants are only distantly related within the Rosaceae or rose family of plants. These two species have some similarities but many differences. For example, chokecherry has toxicity issues but chokeberry does not.

The leaves and seeds of Prunus virginiana contain varying amounts of hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid) which ionizes in water and give off cyanide which is highly toxic. Ingestion of about 0.25 percent of an animal’s weight in leaves can be fatal to livestock. Poisoning occurs when susceptible animals consume a relatively large amount of leaves over a short period of time. Chokecherry is toxic to horses and animals with segmented stomachs (rumens). Ruminate animals include domestic cattle, goats, sheep, bison, buffaloes, camels, llamas, giraffes, deer, pronghorns, antelopes, and moose.

Chokecherry leaves are especially toxic after they have wilted, such as after a frost or after branches have been broken. Wilting causes the hydrocyanic acid to be converted to cyanogenic glycoside, which makes the leaves sweet. Chewing the leaves can result in conversion to cyanide due to the presence of digestive enzymes in the mouth. Chokecherry seeds are also toxic. Although uncommon there are recorded incidences of children who got sick and died after eating relatively large quantities of chokecherry seeds.

Currently, there is no data in the scientific literature about any unwanted or toxic effects of Aronia melanocarpa fruit, seeds, or juice or extracts made from the aronia berries. The leaves, stems, and roots have not been investigated as extensively as the fruit. However, there is no information or reports of toxicity of any parts of Aronia melanocarpa or any of the aronia cultivars.

Chokecherry Fruit

Further adding to the confusion between black chokeberry and black chokecherry is the existence of Prunus virginiana ‘Melanocarpa’ or Prunus virginiana var. melanocarpa. This cultivar or variety name is the same as the specific epithet or the last part of the scientific name of chokeberry -- Aronia melanocarpa. To avoid confusion, it is preferable to use the genus name of Aronia melanocarpa as its common name -- aronia.

The genus name of many plants is used as their common name. For example, hosta is the common name of a very commonly grown herbaceous perennial plant grown in many landscape plantings. The genus name for hosta is Hosta. In the past, hosta plants were also sometimes called plantain lily and funkia.

Hosta

Getting back to the differences between chokeberry and chokecherry, there are several easy ways to tell them apart. Their fruit looks similar but is easy to identify by the size and number of seeds.

Chokeberry (Aronia) fruit has five or less seeds per fruit. The seeds are small and barely noticeable when you eat the fruit, like the seeds in blueberries or strawberries (see photos below).

Chokecherry (Prunus) fruit has a single seed known as a stone or pit. This type of fruit is commonly known a stone fruit but the botanical name for this type of fruit is a drupe. A drupe consists of a relatively thin outer epicarp (skin), a relatively thick, fleshy or fibrous mesocarp (flesh or meat), and one large pit or stone (seed) enclosed by a hardened endocarp (seed coat).

The genus Prunus includes more than 400 species of flowering shrubs and trees. In addition to chokecherry, other examples include black cherry, sour cherry, sweet cherry, peach, nectarine (fuzz-less peach), plum, apricot, and almond. Almonds are like peaches but they have an edible seed and their outer flesh is thin and not edible.

Photos of leaves, stems, etc. of black cherry, Prunus seritona

Chokeberry flowers clusters are flat-topped but chokecherry flower clusters are long and more cylindrical. The fruit of each is arranged in the same type of clusters as the flowers (see photos below).

Chokecherry is native to almost all of North America except the extreme south east. Chokeberry is only native to the northeastern quarter of the United States and adjacent areas of southeast Canada.

The genus Aronia has been included in the genus Photinia in some classifications (Robertson, etal. 1991). However, molecular data has confirmed that these genera are not closely related (Campbell, etal. 2007). Ten years ago, one of the most popular shrubs in the South was the red-tip photinia (Photinia fraseri). Everybody wanted this handsome evergreen shrub and it was widely grown by Southern nursery growers for use in both commercial and residential landscapes. Aronia melanocarpa is not closely related to Photinia fraseri.

Common names for aronia in languages other than English are:

Danish: surbær

German: apfelbeeren

Icelandic: logalauf

Latvian: aronijas

Polish: aronia

Russian: арония
Swedish: aronior

Ukrainian: горобина чорноплідна
Upper Sorbian: slowčinowa aronija

Welsh: aeron tagu

References:

Campbell, C.S., R.C. Evans, D.R. Morgan, T.A. Dickinson, and M.P. Arsenault. 2007. Phylogeny of subtribe Pyrinae (formerly the Maloideae, Rosaceae): Limited resolution of a complex evolutionary history. Plant Systematics and Evolution 266(1-2): 119-145.

Robertson, K.R., J.B. Phipps, J.R. Rohrer, and P.G. Smith. 1991. A synopsis of genera in Maloideae (Rosaceae). Systematic Botany 16(2): 376-394.

*********************************************************************

Please recommend this website http://aroniainamerica.blogspot.com/ to a friend, family member, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

Health benefits of aronia berries

2011-03-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

According to ChooseMyPlate.gov, a website of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), people who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of heart disease, certain types of cancers, obesity, type 2 diabetes, kidney stones, bone loss, and high blood pressure.

Laboratory tests have shown that aronia berries are higher in antioxidants than apples, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, cranberries, elderberries, grapes, oranges, pears, prunes, raspberries, and other fruits that are commonly grown commercially in the United States and Canada. For example, the Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity (ORAC) values for raw aronia berries (chokeberries) is 16,062 compared to 6,552 for raw blueberries. The bar graph below shows the ORAC values for several fruits.

The ORAC values of foods are expressed in micromoles trolox equivalents (TE) per 100 gram sample and are compared to assessments of total polyphenol content in the samples. The shorthand way to say that is trolox equivalent (TE) or micromoles per 100 grams.

The USDA ORAC Database for Selected Foods was on the website of the Agriculture Research Services of the USDA. This database was a cooperative effort of the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory (NDL), the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, and the Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center. This database was updated in 2010. At that time, it contained measures of the antioxidant capacities of 326 food items. Raw and processed fruits, nuts, vegetables, and spices were analyzed for their Oxygen Radical Absorbency Capacity and the results were placed on this database.

*************************************************************

Recently the NDL removed the USDA ORAC Database from the NDL website. This was done because of the mounting evidence that the values indicating antioxidant capacity have no relevance to the effects of specific bioactive compounds on human health. Here is a quote from the NDL website:

“There are a number of bioactive compounds which are theorized to have a role in preventing or ameliorating various chronic diseases such as cancer, coronary vascular disease, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes. However, the associated metabolic pathways are not completely understood and non-antioxidant mechanisms, still undefined, may be responsible. ORAC values are routinely misused by food and dietary supplement manufacturing companies to promote their products and by consumers to guide their food and dietary supplement choices.”...

"There is no evidence that the beneficial effects of polyphenol-rich foods can be attributed to the antioxidant properties of these foods. The data for antioxidant capacity of foods generated by in vitro (in a test-tube) methods cannot be extrapolated to in vivo (in human) effects and the clinical trials to test benefits of dietary antioxidants have produced mixed results. We know now that antioxidant molecules in food have a wide range of functions, many of which are unrelated to the ability to absorb free radicals."

Visit the NDL website for more information.

*************************************************************

Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a method of measuring antioxidant capacities of foods. An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules.

When oxygen interacts with cells, oxidation is inevitable. Cells die and are replaced with fresh, new cells. It is a natural process that keeps the body healthy. Although the body is created to process oxygen very efficiently, a small percentage of cells get damaged in the oxidation process and turn into free radicals. They are “free” because they are missing a critical molecule that would keep them stable. To find their missing molecule, they go on a rampage in the body, stealing molecules where they can. In this process, the DNA of other cells can be damaged. Free radicals trigger a chain reaction resulting in aging and disease.

The exceptionally high ORAC value of aronia is due primarily to the dark purple pigments in the fruit. These water-soluble pigments are anthocyanins. Anthocyanins accumulated in cell vacuoles and are largely responsible for diverse pigmentation from orange to red, purple and blue colors in flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

According to Dr. Ronald E. Wrolstad, Professor of Food Science and Technology at Oregon State University, over 300 structurally distinct anthocyanins have been identified in nature. Anthocyanins are one class of flavonoid compounds, which are widely distributed plant polyphenols.

Anthocyanins are found in fruits such as aronia, blackberry, red and black raspberries, blueberries, bilberries, cherries, currants, blood orange, elderberries, and grapes. They are also found in vegetables such as purple carrots, purple sweet potato, red cabbage, red lettuce, red onion, and the skin of red- or purple-skinned egg-plant, potato, and radish. The red, purple, and blue colors of many flowers are due to anthocyanins.

Total anthocyanin content in aronia berries is 1,480 mg per 100 g of fresh berries, and proanthocyanidin concentration is 664 mg per 100 g (Wu et al. 2004, 2006). Both values are among the highest measured in plants to date.

According to Dr. Ray Sahelian, M.D., Aronia melanocarpa fruit is one of the richest plant sources of phenolic substances, mainly anthocyanins -- glycosides of cyanidin. The main active ingredients are phenolic substances, mainly flavonoids from the anthocyanin subclass.

Research has shown that antioxidants help reduce the risk for cancer, heart disease, inflammation, diabetes, bacterial infections, and neurological diseases. Because antioxidants do all of that, it should be no surprise that they also slow the aging process.

Aronia berries and products made from aronia berries fit the definition of a nutraceutical. This term combines the words "nutrition" and "pharmaceutical." The word was coined in the 1990's by Dr. Stephen L. DeFelice, founder and chairman of the Foundation of Innovation Medicine, Crawford, New Jersey. According to Dr. DeFelice, "A nutraceutical is any substance that is a food or a part of a food and provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease."

Over the last few years, Nature’s Power Nutraceuticals (NP Nutra) Corporation has tested over 100 different nutraceutical fruit powders including the most popular ones from other manufacturers. NP Nutra’s water soluble aronia 4:1 extract got the highest ORAC score at 4738 umoleTe/g, which is more than double that of other nutraceutical powders.

However, an article in the January 25, 2011 issue of Newsweek claims that antioxidants “…may not do any good, and may actually harm.” The article is entitled, “Antioxidants Fall From Grace.” The article says that one study concluded that, “…taking antioxidants …supplements was not beneficial to health and might even be dangerous, though the reason for the danger wasn’t clear.” In 2008 the Cochrane Collaboration, an international consortium of scientists who assess medical research, scrutinized 67 studies with nearly 400,000 participants. The report “…found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention….” The Newsweek article says, “It’s not clear why antioxidants in supplement form might be so dangerous.” Three other studies were also briefly discussed in the Newsweek article.

For what appears to be a better explanation of the studies cited in the Newsweek article, read the comment of Dr. Jonathan Wright entitled, “Newsweek Publishes Disgraceful Article on Antioxidants.” Dr. Wright is a physician and natural biomedical researcher. He says that the Newsweek article is, “Another one-sided ‘mainstream media’ attack on an aspect of natural health care, filled with to-be-expected misinformation, partial information, and -- of course -- no attempt at all to present both sides of the manufactured controversy.”

None of the studies cited in the Newsweek article were about aronia berries. And there have been no reports of side effects of eating aronia berries or products made from them. But like almost anything, moderation and variety is advisable.

Begley, S. 1994. Beyond vitamins. Newsweek, 123(17):45-49.

Phytochemicals are chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants (phyto means “plant” in Greek). The term is generally used to refer to chemicals that may have biological significance. Many of these compounds have specific functions in plants. Some are also active when consumed by animals. Many of these compounds are essential to life and/or highly beneficial to health. Others are toxic. Antioxidants are one type of phytochemical. But scientists estimate that there may be as many as 10,000 different phytochemicals.

There are dozens of fruits and berries that provide health benefits for human consumption. Each of them has certain substances that the other berries do not have. In addition to berries, many other food or food product contain a wide variety of different chemical compounds that are classified as antioxidants. This includes:

Carotenoids (lycopene, carotenes, and lutein) in fruit, vegetables, and eggs

Polyphenolics (resveratrol and flavonoids) in chocolate, cinnamon, coffee,
fruit, olive oil, oregano, red wine, soy, and tea

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in many fruits and vegetables

Vitamin E in vegetable oils

Dry ground cinnamon spice has an ORAC value of 267,536. But how much cinnamon can you eat? I certainly can’t eat it by the spoonful like medicine. But I have found a way to consume more cinnamon. Now at breakfast, I have started to eat several big cinnamon rolls! I’m already feeling healthier. We need to all eat more cinnamon rolls because cinnamon is very high in antioxidants. Of course I'm joking. Too much of anything is probably not good for us. But I sure do like cinnamon rolls and they make me feel better! And that’s my cinnamon roll testimonial.

The flavor of aronia berries is nothing like cinnamon or cinnamon rolls but it is just as distinctive. Most people are already familiar with the taste of blueberries and other small fruits. Each has its own unique flavor. So does aronia. But aronia berries are more astringent than most other fruit. If you like dry wine you will most likely love raw aronia berries. They do lose some of their astringency when cooked or processed but they retain most of their health benefits (see studies cited below). You can read more about the health benefits of including aronia berries in your diet at Agriculture Marketing Resource Center.

A two-year project entitled “Developing production, processing, and marketing of aronia berries on small family farms in Southeast Iowa” was funded in 2009 by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and completed in 2012. Some of the funds for this project were used for chemical analysis of Iowa grown aronia fruit. The laboratory tests were conducted by the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute at Iowa State University. The results showed that the aronia juice had a pH of 3.5, titratable acidity of 8.2 and a total solids content of 6.9 degrees Brix. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that succinic acid, malic acid, quinic acid, acetic acid, citric acid and ascorbic acid were present. Glucose, fructose and possibly sorbitol made up the carbohydrate portion of the juice. By comparison, a commercial juice sample from Germany was tested. This juice had a pH of 3.4, titratable acidity of 13.0 and total solids content of 15.4 degrees Brix. HPLC analysis showed that the same acid and carbohydrate compounds were present but in different proportions.

A study entitled “The effect of processing on chokeberry (Aronia Medik.) polyphenols” cited by the Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists examined the effects of different types of food processing on the concentrations of antioxidants in aronia berries. The aronia berries were produced into jams, dried fruits and juices. Their results showed that processing the aronia berries as jams yielded the least amount of antioxidant loss at 95% retention of antioxidants. Processing the aronia berries into dried fruit yielded a little bit higher antioxidant loss at approximately 65% retention of antioxidants. Finally, processing the aronia berries into juice yielded the greatest antioxidant loss at approximately 25% retention of antioxidants.

Similar results were obtained from a study entitled “Nutritional Value, Taste Considerations, and Antioxidant Content of Iowa Grown Aronia Berry Food and Beverage Products.” Funds for this project were provided by the USDA Specialty Crops Block Grant Program through the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Some testimonials about the health benefits of aronia may lead you to believe that aronia is a cure-all. It is not a cure-all. Even though the health benefits of antioxidants and aronia are well documented in medical research publications, it is always good to have a large dose of skepticism. The placebo effect is also real and can be very strong. If you believe or want to believe that something will cure your ailments, it most likely will. Belief is very powerful. So beware of testimonials!

      Nutraceuticals and nutraceutical supplements are not currently regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA). Due to this, claims regarding the beneficial effects of nutraceuticals can only be “health claims” and not “medicinal claims.” For instance the claims must not state that by eating/taking the nutraceutical a disease will be prevented or cured but only that it may help to improve health, possibly assisting in the avoidance of the onset of illness.

Health claims for aronia are based primarily on laboratory and animal research rather than human tests. In 2010, researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem reviewed the aronia research studies done with people. They found only 13 aronia studies with people. They rated the quality of most of these studies as poor. They concluded that more rigorous studies in people will be needed before aronia products can be recommended with confidence (2010, Chrubasik, etal.).

  Although the name "nutraceutical" implies that nutraceuticals have medicinal properties they are in fact food types. As it stands nutraceuticals are only required to comply with food laws. The two key areas of food regulation to be considered in relation to nutraceuticals are those of labeling and advertising.

      In 1994, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Dietary supplements without drug approval can make so-called 'structure/function' claims, such as "Vitamin A promotes good vision" or "St. Johns Wort maintains emotional well-being," so long as the label bears a disclaimer that the claim has not been evaluated by the FDA and that the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. -- quote from an article by Maxwell J. Mehlman, J.D. and Professor of Law and Director of the Law-Medicine Center at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland, Ohio.

Reaction to the obesity epidemic in the United States combined with claims related to the health benefits of aronia is driving the interest in and market for aronia berries. But care must be taken not to excessively promote the health claims and potential benefits of aronia berries. Many new "miracle foods" are surrounded by a lot of health claim hype, and aronia is no exception.

USDA chemist Ronald L. Prior says the total antioxidant capacity of the foods does not necessarily reflect their health benefit. Benefits depend on how the food's antioxidants are absorbed and utilized in the body. Currently, there are no USDA guidelines on how many (dosage) or what kind of antioxidants to consume in your daily diet.

References:

Chrubasik, C., G. Li, S. Chrubasik. 2010. The clinical effectiveness of chokeberry: asystematic review. Phytotherapy Research . 24(8): 1107-1114.

Wu, X., L. Gu, R. L. Prior, and S. McKay. 2004. Characterization of anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins in some cultivars of Ribes, Aronia and Sambucus and their antioxidant capacity. J Agric Food Chem. 52 (26): 7846-7856.

Wu, X., G. R. Beecher, J. M Holden, D. B. Haytowitz, S. E. Gebhardt, and R. L. Prior. 2006. Concentrations of anthocyanins in common foods in the United States and estimation of normal consumption. J Agric Food Chem. 54 (1): 4069-4075.

*********************************************************************

Disclaimer:

The author of this blog accepts no responsibility for the validity of information provided. The health and medical efficacy of products or plants mentioned on this blog may not have been evaluated by or approved by the US-FDA to treat, cure, or prevent disease.

Recommendation:

Please recommend this website http://aroniainamerica.blogspot.com/ to a friend, family member, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

Aronia plants for sale

2011-03-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

      Would you like to buy some aronia plants? Would you like to plant them in your garden so you can harvest your own aronia berries? If so, you are not alone.  Start by choosing a reputable nursery or garden center that sells high-quality plants. Three of the mail-order nurseries that I recommend are discussed in this blog. (We do not sell aronia plants.) Please let us know if there are other sources of aronia plants that you like.

If you already have one or more aronia plants, you can propagate those plants by vegetative methods.  Aronia cultivars, such as Viking and Nero, are most often propagated by vegetative methods. This includes propagation by semi-hardwood and hardwood stem cuttings, layering, and micropropagation. You can also dig-up and transplant young suckers at the base of clump.

Aronia cultivars can also be grown from seed. Because they produce a high percent of apomictic seed, they will come true from seed. Most cultivars are also nearly seedless, so it is difficult to get many seed.  This post includes advice about how to grow aronia plants from seeds (read the post entitled "Aronia seeds for sale").

Choose healthy plants from reputable sources

To purchase aronia plants, click on the photo

or any of the ads to the right. --->

If you purchase low quality, cheep plants, then you are asking for trouble! And you will most likely get what you pay for -- puny plants that have a low survival rate. You will be disappointed and you will actually end up paying more than if you had purchased good plants to start with. In my opinion --

Quality trumps price!

The aronia cultivar that I recommend for fruit production is Viking. This cultivar is very vigorous and will eventually be a very large plant. If not pruned to control its height and spread, one plant will grow as large as a common lilac bush and take up at least a 10 by 10 foot area and be at least 8 to 10 feet tall. (To learn more about the origin of aronia cultivars, read the article published in HortScience.)

Aronia cultivars that have been selected for ornamental landscape purposes, such as Autumn Magic and Iroquois Beauty, are smaller plants that take up much less space but their fruit is also edible. These ornamental cultivars also have better fall foliage color than Viking but they will usually not produce as many pounds of fruit per plant and the individual berries may be a little smaller than those of Viking or Nero (a similar cultivar). However, in the same space it takes for one Viking plant, you might be able to plant two or more of the landscape cultivars. However, the Viking cultivar is my first choice for commercial fruit production in the United States.

To order Viking aronia plants, all you need to do is click on any of the ads for aronia plants on this website. Click on the photo of the aronia berries to the right or on the ads for aronia plants (also on the right) and your computer will automatically go the web page where you can order the plants you want.

Three of the sources of aronia plants that I recommend are:
* Hirt’s Gardens is located in Wadsworth, Ohio
* Miller Nurseries is located in Canandaigua, New York

* Raintree Nursery is located in Morton, Washington

Hirt’s Gardens (formerly Hirt's Greenhouse & Flowers) is one of Ohio’s oldest horticultural establishments. This is the 36th year that Raintree Nursery has been in the mail-order nursery business. Miller Nurseries is in their 75th year as a mail-order nursery business. All three of these businesses have been selling plants on Amazon for a good many years.

To get the scoops on Hirt’s Gardens, Miller Nurseries, and Raintree Nursery, you can visit Dave’s Garden website and read the most recent reviews written by customers. The plants that I have purchased from these nurseries in the past have always been healthy, high quality plants. But if there is a problem with your order, you should contact the nursery directly to request a refund or a replacement. For a list of other nurseries that sell aronia plants, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting. (We do not sell aronia plants.)

As a consulting business, Everhart Horticulture Consulting provides advice on many horticulture crops including aronia. This includes recommendations and advice on where to buy liners and larger aronia plants, what cultivars to plant, upkeep, maintenance, weed and pest control, irrigation, when to plant, site selection, soil testing, plant propagation, pest management, where and how to plant, mechanized planting, plant spacing, mechanized harvesting, along with where to market, budgets, custom business plan writing, what aronia grower group you might want to join, and everything else you need to know. As a client of our consulting business, you will get help finding answers to any and all of the aronia questions you might have.

We will also provide follow-up support and assistance for as long as you need us at no additional cost to you. Even after I have consulted with you, I will continue to help you and share information with you as long as you freely share information and your experiences with me. We believe in openness, sharing, transparency, and cooperation.

Commercial aronia consultations take at least 4 to 5 hours plus follow-up time. Visit our website and contact us for price quotes.

*********************************************************************

Please recommend this website http://aroniainamerica.blogspot.com/ to a friend, family member, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

How to use aronia berries

2011-03-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

You can use aronia berries in many different ways. You can grow your own aronia plants in your home garden and harvest your own aronia berries. The berries will be ripe in late summer or early fall. Then you can pick the berries and eat them fresh off the bush either raw or processed in many different ways. You can also dry or freeze the berries for later use. Fresh, dried, or frozen aronia berries can be used in many different ways.

If you don't want to do it yourself, then you can purchase many different commercial products made from aronia berries. There are several ads on this website for businesses that sell aronia berry chews, powders, supplements, and dried or dehydrated aronia berries. When you try these products you may be surprised to find out how easy it is to get the remarkable health benefits of aronia berries in your daily diet.

To view aronia recipes posted on other websites, click on the photos in this post or the word "recipes" in this sentence. For a few more recipes click here.

Aronia bread, wine, soap, jam, & hand cream

I use aronia berries and aronia products in many of my favorite fruit-containing recipes. I completely or partly replace the fruit called for in the recipe with aronia berries or aronia products. You can do that too. Your “new” creation will taste great! And when you include aronia berries, you will get their health benefits too!

I will admit that my cooking skills are somewhat limited. So far in my life, the total number of homemade pies I have made is two! The first one I made from scratch was way back when I was in college. I knew it was a flop because the only person who would eat it was my mother! She thought everything I did was great!

A few months ago during the holiday season, I made my second pie. It was an aronia berry pie and it was much better than my first pie. The reason I know it was at least satisfactory is because most members of my family ate at least one slice. Even my mother-in-law Dorothy said it was good! (To read more about her and her very interesting posts, visit her blog entitled Thrive at Living Alone.)

Dorothy holding my aronia berry pie
December 29, 2010

I think my third pie will also be an aronia berry pie. I’m planning to take Dorothy’s advice and tweak my recipe slightly to make my third pie even more delicious! On-the-other-hand, I might make a pie from one of the pie recipes in the aronia cookbook, A is for Aronia, by my friend Cheryl Saker. To view and then purchase a copy, click on the ad near the bottom of the column on the right.

Pies are not the only thing you can make with aronia berries. You can use them like you use any other fruit. You can eat them fresh (or frozen) in hot breakfast cereals, salads, jelled dishes, with meats, or you can use them in many other ways. This includes using them in baked goods such as pies, bread, muffins, cookies, pastries, and cakes. Aronia fruit or aronia fruit juice can be used to make jams, jellies, sauce, toppings, gravy, syrup, icing, candy, salsa, barbecue sauce, ketchup, and to flavor and color yogurt, sorbet, ice cream, milk, vinegar, and other products. The berries can also be used to make tea, juice, smoothies, and stand alone aronia wine or blended with grapes or other fruits such as elderberries. The wine shown below is called Eldaronia. It is a blend of elderberry and aronia berry wines.

Aronia grower Claude Nicholson

Or you can purchase many kinds of aronia products already made. Just click on the ads for any of the aronia products on the right. To purchase a bottle of aronia berry wine, visit the website of White Headed Robin Winery or visit the winery (shown in the photo below) located in Viborg, South Dakota.

White Headed Robin Winery

(Click on photo above.)

One of the first retail businesses to sell aronia berries and products made from them is Mae's Health Solutions. Their products are for sale on the Internet and at more than 40 locations in the United States. Click on their ads on the right to view and then purchase their products.

Ken Sailors, Mae’s Health Solutions Plus
8909 H Street, Omaha, Nebraska

You can also grow your own aronia berries. Several of the ads on the right sell aronia plants. Some or all of the berries can be left on the plants and used to provide food for songbirds in mid- to late-winter. Aronia plants also look great and they are easy to grow in the home landscape and in wildlife plantings or windbreaks.

But, in my opinion, aronia berries are too good to let the birds have them all but you may want to share some of them with the songbirds that visit your garden. So, if you haven’t tried aronia berries yet, you should do so immediately. If you already use them, then please share your experiences and your recipes. To see photos of other uses of aronia berries click here. Post your comments in the box below.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

P.S. -- To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

What do aronia berries taste like?

2011-03-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Aronia berries and products made from them have a distinctive taste that is unlike any other fruit. The taste of aronia is a complex sensation in the mouth, tongue, and throat. It is difficult to describe the taste of most fruits and berries including aronia. Many people describe the taste of aronia berries as a pleasant, distinctive flavor. If you like other fruits and berries, then you will probably like the taste of aronia berries.

Ripe aronia berries
August 16, 2006

      It should be no surprise that opinions differ about what tastes good. That’s because taste is strongly influenced by social, cultural, and economic factors, as well as individual preference and genetics.

    The taste perception of aronia berries is also influenced by the age and experience of the person doing the tasting. For example, younger people usually perceive aronia to be too astringent. This is a natural, healthy reflex. Children often spit out astringent and bitter plant parts. That helps them to avoid eating anything poisonous. (A large number of naturally astringent and bitter compounds are known to be toxic.)  Only in the course of becoming an adult do people realize that astringency and bitterness do not always indicate foods that are dangerous to eat. Such foods can even be tasty. This is also the reason why children usually dislike grapefruit, Brussels sprouts, coffee, and beer but later as adults they may enjoy them.

If you love food more than most people, you may have inherited supertaster genes. Supertasters are people who have an unusually high number of taste buds and experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than most people. About 25 percent of Americans are supertasters. The majority (75%) of people are categorized as either tasters or non-taster.

For example, the degree to which you experience the astringency, bitterness, and acidity of red wines is correlated with your taster status. Non-tasters gave significantly lower intensity ratings for the astringency, bitterness, and acidity of the red wines than do tasters and supertasters.

When you take your first bite of a raw aronia berry picked fresh-of-the-bush, the first thing you will notice is a puckering sensation in your mouth. This is especially true if the aronia berries are not fully ripe. This dry mouth feeling or astringency is caused by chemicals known as tannins. To supertasters, this sensation can be too intense. Non-tasters (75 percent of Americans) tend to like the dry, mouth-puckering quality of dry red wines and they also like the astringency of aronia berries. If you like dry wines, you will most likely love to eat raw aronia berries picked fresh-of-the-bush.

Tannin tastes dry and astringent and you can feel it specifically on the middle of your tongue and the front part of your mouth. Unsweetened black tea is a great example of nearly pure tannin dissolved in water. The drying sensation from the tea is due to tannin, the same organic compound that gives a fine dry wine, such as Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, a firm structure and long, beautiful finish. Tannins are polyphenols. Polyphenols tend to cling to proteins. In our mouths, tannins find protein in saliva. These proteins cause saliva to be slippery. Tannins cause formerly saliva-coated mouths turn dry. Your mouth will have a puckery feeling, a sensation that many people find pleasant in moderation.

We don't have a taste bud for astringent, but it is an important quality of many foods. Astringent is one of the six basic tastes which also include bitter, pungent (spiciness or hotness), salty, sour, and sweet.

There is a lot of mis-information or misunderstandings about the taste of aronia berries. Some say aronia berries are bitter or sour. That is not true. Some say aronia berries taste really bad, especially when eaten fresh. Others compare them to what they consider to be the disagreeable taste of cranberries. None of this is the truth. It is correct that what tasted good to one person might be repulsive to someone else. It is also true that under-ripe aronia berries have more tannins than fully ripe aronia berries. However, many people like the taste of fresh, raw aronia berries. Others do not.

Some vintners (wine makers) are using aronia berries to blend with grapes and other fruits to make drier wines. Charlie Caldwell, owner of Black Squirrel Vineyard & Winery, grows grapes and aronia berries. He describes his aronia wine as heavy with earthy tones, good tannins, and deep pigmentation. He says that aronia berries are great for adding body, color, and tannins to a wine that needs improvement. (From the Grape Vine, Vol. 2006, No. 4, p. 5)

Tannins are not only found in aronia berries but in many other fruits. This includes chokecherry, quince, unripe persimmons, unripe bananas, as well as banana skins and the stem end of raw dates, the fruit of date palms. On my recent trip to Egypt, I learned not to eat the stem ends of raw dates. To see some of my photos from Egypt, log into facebook, then click on or cut & paste this URL ---

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=1452271413&aid=2068346

Dr. Everhart eating a raw date
Egypt -- October 12, 2010

Have you ever bitten into an American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, fruit before it was fully ripe? If you try to eat one too soon, your mouth will pucker like crazy! If you wait to harvest them after a frost, most of the astringency will be gone. Aronia berries are never as astringent as unripe persimmons. But freezing also reduces the astringency of aronia berries.

When fully ripe, aronia berries have a sugar content as high as table grapes or sweet cherries. They have a high acid content but are not sour when fully ripe. The sour and sweet tastes are well balanced like well sweetened lemonade.

Farm Progress Show
Boone, Iowa -- August 27, 2008

It is easy to find comments on the Internet by people who claim that aronia fruit is too bitter to eat. This is a commonly held misconception. In fact, experience has shown that most people like to eat aronia berries picked right off the bush. At the aronia booth during the 2008 Farm Progress Show near Boone, Iowa, I conducted an unscientific taste test. Almost everyone who picked and tasted an aronia berries gave it a “thumbs-up” for taste. Only one little boy who bit into an aronia berry immediately spit it out!

We also got positive taste test results at the Clay County Fair, the largest county fair in Iowa. Two young women at the Clay County Fair said, “Yum! Yum! We could eat these all day!” I ask them if they drink wine and they said, “We only drink dry wine, the drier the better!”

Aronia Berry Fans
Clay County Fair, Iowa -- September 7, 2008

So I now think it is safe to say that there will be a fresh market for raw aronia berries. Education is the key to development of the aronia berry fresh market. So please give aronia berries a taste test. You will probably like them unless you are a supertaster.

Are you are willing to try something new? Or do you have a closed mind? Do you prejudge things before you even try them? If so, you may not be willing to try aronia berries.

Barbara Damrosch, in a recent article about aronia in The Washington Post, wrote, “I might even eat one of their fruits — when it’s the last berry on Earth.” As aronia gains popularity, I hope she doesn’t choke when she eat her own words.

*********************************************************************

Please recommend this website http://aroniainamerica.blogspot.com/ to a friend, family member, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

Wild aronia plants in the US

2011-03-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

After an on-site aronia consultation with clients in Wisconsin, I drove back home to Iowa. Driving along enjoying the scenery, I remembered that southwest Wisconsin is one of the areas where Aronia melanocarpa is native. So I started looking for aronia plants in the rapidly passing landscape. But the identifying characteristics of aronia plants are not distinctive, especially in July. When viewed from a moving vehicle at a distance, identifying aronia plants was nearly impossible. I would need to stop the car and get out for a closer search.

Wild Aronia melanocarpa plant in Wisconsin

Even though I lived in Madison, Wisconsin for several years while earning my Ph.D., I have never driven across the southwestern part of the state. Highway 21 is a narrow, flat, stretch of road. Making good time, I sped by a large rock outcropping. Immediately, I did a u-turn and pulled into Ship Rock wayside.

Ship Rock

This impressive geologic formation is on the Richfield-Preston Township line in Adams County. It is located about one mile west of Richfield and about three miles east of Preston. Ship Rock is also known as Preston Rock.

I learned that several natural rock formations once stood as islands in Glacial Lake Wisconsin. This long-gone lake was originally formed by the melting ice sheet about 12,000 years ago. The glaciers did not extend into Adams County but the melt waters did.

After parking on the south side of the impressive formation, I walked around to the north side admiring and taking photos of the plant communities along the way. Ferns and other shade-loving plants are abundant on the cooler north side of Ship Rock.

Ferns & mosses on north side of Ship Rock

As I came around to the sunny south side, I immediately noticed that the temperature was hotter and the light was much brighter. Clambering through the maze of large boulders strewn at the base of the formation, I nearly stumbled over several wild aronia plants.

Aronia plant on south side of Ship Rock

They were growing in the accumulated rock debris at the base of the formation. It appeared to be a high, dry habitat but I suspect moisture percolated up through the sandy soil between cracks in the rock. This may be a bog-like site, perfect for aronia.

My experience confirms that aronia grows best in full sun. Native aronia plants and aronia cultivars grow best in full sun. The heat of a south facing exposure does not seem to bother them. They can also tolerate occasional drought when well established. In recent years, most of the original native habitat of Aronia melanocarpa has been lost to field crops and urbanization.

Aronia plants will persist in semi-shade but they will languish or die if the site is too shady. In a shady site aronia plants grow slower, flower less, and produce little if any fruit. Aronia is not an understory shrub but they will grow on the sunny edge of a woodland. Native aronia plants are often found growing in swamps or damp soils in natural openings in woodlands.

Aronia cultivars that have been selected for fruit production are larger, more robust plants than native plants of Aronia melanocarpa. The cultivars also tolerate a wider range of soils and growing conditions than the species.

Plant distribution maps indicate that wild populations of Aronia melanocarpa are quite common in southwestern Wisconsin. I wonder if these aronia populations started growing there soon after the glacial ice sheet melted about 12,000 years ago. Had a Paleo Indian man stood exactly where I was posing for this digital photo?

To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,

Dr. Eldon Everhart

Grants for specialty crops

2011-03-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

Grants are available to help promote specialty crops such as aronia. In most states, grant proposals are due on or before the second week in May. USDA will announce the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, through the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). This is a flow-through program whereby individual states apply for federal funds, which they will use for grants within their states.

Grant funds are available for aronia projects

Each year, the Agriculture Department in each state in the United States sends out a Request for Proposals in a news release. This announcement is usually made in mid-February. The state's Agriculture Department receives funds from the USDA based on the total dollar value of specialty crops grown in that state. States typically receive several hundred thousand dollars.

Application forms are available on the website of each state's Agriculture Department. To find the contacts person in your state, go to the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service website and enter the name of your state in the state contacts search box.

Specialty crops are defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops, including floriculture crops. On their website, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has lists of plants commonly considered to be fruits and tree nuts, vegetables, culinary herbs and spices, medical plants and nursery, floriculture, and horticultural crops. These lists are not intended to be all inclusive, but rather to provide examples of the most common specialty crops.

To be eligible for a grant, the project(s) must solely enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops that benefit the industry within the state as a whole and that do not directly benefit a particular product or provide a profit to a single organization, institution, or individual. However, projects can indirectly benefit a single organization, institution, or individual. Grant funds can not be used to purchase starter plants or equipment used to plant, cultivate, and grow a specialty crop for the purpose of making a profit, or to expand production of a single business. Grant funds can not be used to promote their individual businesses or to train its employees how to make value-added products.

There are many examples of acceptable projects. For example, funds may be request for by a specialty crop organization to conduct an advertising campaign that will benefit their specialty crop members. A single grower may requests funds to demonstrate the viability of organic small fruit production and partners with Extension to publicize the working model of diversification to other regional growers. In cooperation with a university, funding may be requested to conduct research on the feasibility of planting, cultivating, and growing a specialty crop in a particular area, the results of which can be shared with many growers throughout the State.

Grant proposals will be accepted from established and "want-to-be" specialty crop producers, agencies, universities, institutions, industry, and community based organizations. Proposals for Specialty Crop Block Grants are usually are due on or before --

The 2nd. week in May

Writing a grant proposal is not easy for most people. Planning is one of the keys to success. A grant proposal is the written version of your planning process. The grant request must be written with clarity and in the required format. The proposal must make a compelling case that sets it apart from other proposals. You will not be the only one competing for the same scarce funds.

There are several good references books that can help and there are grant writing services that can help you write your proposal. If you need help writing a grant proposal, Everhart Horticulture Consulting offers that service, in addition to business plan writing, advice about gardening, aronia berries, and herbicide drift. We also do hands-on workshops, PowerPoint presentations, and on-site or phone consultations.

As a consulting business, Everhart Horticulture Consulting provides links to resources, businesses, organizations, and people, as well as advice on many horticulture crops including aronia. This includes recommendations and advice on where to buy small liners and larger aronia plants, what cultivars to plant, upkeep, maintenance, weed and pest control, irrigation, when to plant, site selection, soil testing, plant propagation, pest management, where and how to plant, mechanized planting, plant spacing, mechanized harvesting, along with where to market, budgets, custom business plan writing, what aronia grower group you might want to join, and everything else you need to know. As a client of our consulting business, you will get help finding answers to any and all of the aronia questions you might have.

Commercial aronia consultations take at least 4 to 5 hours plus follow-up time. Visit our website and contact us for price quotes. Please recommend our website and this blog to a friend, family member, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website

Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,

Dr. Eldon Everhart

Where is aronia grown?

2011-03-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

Early in the 20th century, aronia was introduced from the United States into Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia where high quality, larger fruited cultivars were selected. Thousands of acres of aronia are now grown as a commercial berry crop in Eastern Europe. Countries with notable commercial aronia production include Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Siberia, and Sweden.

In March 2008, an article written by Vadim Makarenko and published in Poland’s largest daily newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza, .reported that Polish aronia berry production was 35-40,000 tons. This amounted to 90% of the world production of aronia. Of that, 90 percent was being processed into juice concentrate for export to the US and other countries. Poland itself was using the remaining 10 percent of the fruit. It is estimated that in 2012, about 50 percent of the world’s commercial aronia berry production is in Poland.

Aronia plantation in Poland

Aronia is increasing in popularity in the United States and several other countries. In 2013, Dr. Everhart estimates that several thousand acres of commercial aronia berry plants have been planted in the United States. About 50 to 60 of those plantings were in production in 2013. The remaining plants were in the ground for less than three years. Most of the commercial aronia plantings are in the Midwest. This includes commercial plantings in Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

The aronia berry industry in the United States is currently in the early stages of development. Production is centered on southwest Iowa. Many growers in the Midwest are planning to at least double their acres within the next few years. At this time, demand exceeds production. Several markets already exist and others are developing.

In 2006, Dr. Eldon Everhart estimated that in 3 to 4 years at least 200 aronia plantations will be in production in Iowa alone. In 2010, Dr. Eldon Everhart estimated that 200 to 300 acres of commercial aronia berries had been planted in the United States. In 2013, Dr. Eldon Everhart estimated that at least 400 to 500 acres been planted in the United States with most of those plantings in Iowa and adjacent states.

If you are interested in starting a commercial aronia plantation, you have found the right person to get reliable answers to your questions. Dr. Eldon Everhart is one of the only commercial aronia experts in the United States.

Dr. Everhart consults with established aronia growers and “want-to-be” aronia growers and other specialty crop growers all over the Midwest and beyond. As you may know, you can find a lot of information about aronia on the Internet and from some of the people who have already planted aronia. Unfortunately, much of it is outdated, misleading, or just not true. Everhart Horticulture Consulting website has links to more reliable information.

Dr. Everhart will be glad to answer all of your questions about commercial production and marketing of aronia. He will also be glad to provide a copy of an interactive aronia budget as an Excel spreadsheet. Specialists with Everhart Horticulture Consulting can also work with you on your aronia business plan and on writing grant proposals.

However, there is a charge for our professional services but you will get a good value for your investment. The information that we provide to our clients is based on scientific knowledge and years of experience --- not on testimonials, unproven beliefs, or wild guesses. Some individuals will only share detailed information with you if you sign a contract to sell your aronia berries to them.

It will take a lot longer to get started if you try to find reliable information about aronia on your own. You can also learn by the “trial and error method” but that can be time consuming and very expensive!

Before you decide to hire me, you may want to know more about my qualifications. Dr. Everhart worked as a commercial horticulture specialist for Iowa State University and as a college teacher for over 35 years. He grew up in a horticulture business and he has worked with horticulture crops for over 50 years.

Dr. Everhart's commercial experience and knowledge of aronia started nearly 15 years ago. He is currently involved with aronia research, speaking engagements and short courses, consulting with individual aronia businesses and commercial aronia growers and organizations all over the Midwest and in several foreign countries.

Dr. Everhart is the president of a private family-owned consulting business -- Everhart Horticulture Consulting. This consulting business provides advice on many horticulture crops including aronia. This includes recommendations and advice on site selection, soil testing, plant propagation, pest management, where and how to plant, mechanized planting, plant spacing, mechanized harvesting, along with where to buy small liners and larger aronia plants, what cultivars to plant, upkeep, maintenance, weed and pest control, irrigation, when to plant, where to market, budgets, custom business plan writing, what aronia grower group you might want to join, and everything else you need to know. As a client of our consulting business, you will get help finding answers to any and all of the aronia questions you might have.

We will also provide follow-up support and assistance for as long as you need us at no additional cost to you. Even after Dr. Everhart or one of his partners has consulted with you, they will continue to help you and share information with you as long as you freely share information and your experiences with them. We believe in openness, sharing, transparency, and cooperation.

Commercial aronia consultations take at least 4 to 5 hours plus follow-up time. It may take longer, depending on how much assistance you want and need. Consultation by telephone is $600. An on-site consultation visit is $600 plus travel expenses. Contact us if you are serious about starting a commercial aronia plantation.

Please recommend this blog to your friends, family members, or anyone who might be interested in aronia.

Please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

P.S. -- To view videos about aronia, visit the Aronia Plant Videos or Aronia Berry Harvesters.

What is aronia?

2011-03-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Aronia (pronounced "ar-ROH-nee-uh") is one of the common names used for Aronia melanocarpa. It is a perennial, deciduous, self-supporting shrub. Unlike grape vines, aronia does not need trellising. The growth habit of Aronia melanocarpa plants varies greatly. The range of variability extends from ground cover types to tall and leggy shrubs up to 20 feet tall and everything in-between. They also vary considerably in fruit size, color, ripening date, and flavor.

Dr. Everhart is out standing in the field of aronia

The species Aronia melanocarpa is native to the northeastern quarter of the United States and southeastern Canada. Its native range extends west to Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. It is on state endangered species lists in Iowa and Missouri. It grows wild in only a small area in one county in Iowa. In fact, the species may be extinct in Iowa. The same is true in Missouri and Arkansas. It is more common in Wisconsin, especially in the northeastern half of the state.

Aronia melanocarpa is not native to Europe but aronia cultivars have been grown there for several decades. It has become naturalized in areas of Poland where it has escaped from cultivation. About 50 percent of the world production of aronia berries is currently grown in Poland.

Genetic testing of the popular aronia cultivars ‘Viking’ and ‘Nero’ have been conducted by Dr. Mark Brand at the University of Connecticut. These tests indicate that ‘Viking’ and ‘Nero’ are probably hybrids between Aronia melanocarpa and Sorbus aucuparia (mountain ash). (Click here for more information.)

  Commercial aronia berry production in North America is in its infancy. Demand for aronia berries currently exceeds production. Many new aronia plantations are being planted in the Midwest.

    In cultivation, aronia cultivars are used as a fruit crop in commercial or home garden plantings, in conservation and wildlife plantings, and as an ornamental landscape plant. The plants have all-season interest in the landscape. This includes large clusters of white with a slight pink tinge, shiny green leaves during the growing season, colorful red to orange or yellow fall foliage color, and large clusters of purple-black pea-sized fruit that usually persists well into the winter months.

Aronia melanocarpa and its cultivars are cold hardy to at least USDA Hardiness Zone 3 (-40 degrees Fahrenheit) and south to the northern part of USDA Zone 7. Further south it does not get enough hours of chilling required (often referred to as chill factor) needed to satisfy its need for a cold, long winter.

The cold tolerant blooms of aronia open in late spring avoiding most frosts. The plants grow well on various soil types from boggy soils that are poorly drained to well-drained sites. The optimum pH for growth and fruit production is slightly acid (6.0 to 6.5) but aronia will tolerate a wider pH range (5.0 to 8.5).

Click here for links to more information about aronia as well as links to horticulture and gardening resources. Also, if you like this blog and you like our website, then please tell your friends, family members, or anyone who might be interested in aronia, gardening, or horticulture.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. It would be very helpful if you would please post a comment in the box below. To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.

Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart

Where is aronia native?

2011-03-04T11:09:00.000-08:00

The two species that are generally recognized in the genus Aronia are A. melanocarpa, black chokeberry, and A. arbutifolia, red chokeberry. Aronia melanocarpa (Photinia melanocarpa) is native to the northeastern one-quarter of the United States. Its native range extends north into Canada and south into the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains
in north Georgia.

Native range of Aronia melanocarpa

       Red chokeberry, A. arbutifolia, is native to the southeastern one-quarter of the United States. It ranges from eastern Texas to northern Florida and continues up the eastern seaboard.

     In the Appalachian Mountains and the Northeast there is considerable overlap of the red and black chokeberry range. Where the native range of these two species overlaps, a third species is sometimes recognized. Purple chokeberry, A. prunifolia, is intermediate between the other two species.       A. melanocarpa is on state endangered species lists in Missouri and Iowa. It is only reported in Saline County in central Arkansas, in Stoddard County in southeast Missouri, and in Winneshiek County in extreme northeastern Iowa (as indicated by notes written on specimen labels in the Ada Hayden Herbarium at Iowa State University).

       It is locally abundant in most states where it occurs. The plants often spread by rhizomes or suckers from the crown to form small to medium sized colonies in a non-aggressive manner. It grows in full sun and along woodland edges but does not persist for long in full shade. It was well known to Native Americans and early settlers.

For more information about the native range of Aronia melanocarpa refer to:

Hardin, James W. 1973. The enigmatic chokeberries (Aronia, Rosaceae). Bulletin of the Botanical Club 100(3): 178-184.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/2484630

USDA-NRCS Plants Profile:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/nameSearch

To learn more about aronia, visit our website Everhart Horticulture Consulting.