Stake a honeyberry bush?

[whiskyman]

One of my honeyberry bush main stem snapped earlier in the season and due to this several new growth has taken it place. Problem is, the new shoots have grown over 3 feet long horizontal and makes my bush look lobsided.

I'm looking for advice to either stake these shoots up so the bush has an upright growing habit before it turns to hardwood or just leave it to the way it wants to grow.

if the picture is too dark, i'll take another tomorrow.

[chrisdb]

I don't know about staking it, but you might be interested to know that mine has a very horizontal and lopsided habit and seems to be perfectly happy like that. I think their preferred growth habit may be fairly low and spreading. Do you want to correct it because you're about stability or because you just would prefer the look of an upright plant?

[Alison]

I've only ever seen them in the wild and they were certainly low lying there - not to say you can't train them though obviously. Would be interested to see what you think of the taste though as I found them a bit yukky.

[chrisdb]

I've had mine a few years now. I should say that I'm not convinced it is the exact variety I wanted since the same place sold me a 'Hinnomaki Yellow' gooseberry that turned out to produce red fruit.

It was sold to me as an improved variety of Lonicera caerulea with bigger and sweeter fruit. My actual experience has been small, tart fruit with a kind of almost raspberry/blackberry flavour. I do like tart so the flavour is OK for me, he problem is that the fruit is small and it doesn't produce enough of them so yield in terms of weight is low. If that's the best the planf can do then probably you're better off growing another small fruiting shrub like a gooseberry.

Given my doubts about the source I have ordered anothed improved variety from a source I trust more for this winter. If that plant also yields poorly after a few years then, given the plant isn't that ornamental and the flavour is just OK, both might end up getting replaced.

Edit: although the plant does have the advantage that it doesn't seem to care much about site as long as it has enough water. Shade doesn't seem to affect yields much.