Tell me about Elderberry

[Heart shot]

My wife is all about Elderberry syrup and the healthy benefits. I love habitat and native plants. So I thought it would be great to try and grow some Elderberry. Now I need to figure out how to start.

I was thinking cuttings? Lots of questions. How do I start them? When should I harvest the cutting?

I know of a few plants I could take some from.

Where should I plant to get them growing? IE soil type, sun, etc. I have a ton of deer in my neighborhood so I need to protect them. Can I use pots? Any info is appreciated as I would love to get a bunch started by spring.

Thx

 

[catscratch]

I've found it to be easy to grow from cuttings but hard to protect. Deer love to browse it down to nothing. I grow it in a flowerbed by the house and take cuttings from that plant each year. It seems to prefer good soils over clay.

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[MarkDarvin]

I've found it to be easy to grow from cuttings but hard to protect. Deer love to browse it down to nothing. I grow it in a flowerbed by the house and take cuttings from that plant each year. It seems to prefer good soils over clay.

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I need to bail the few I have outta their tubes and see if that can get them going. They'll need cages by me.

 

[catscratch]

I need to bail the few I have outta their tubes and see if that can get them going. They'll need cages by me.

I've tried without cages enough times to realize it's a wasted effort.

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[MarkDarvin]

I've tried without cages enough times to realize it's a wasted effort.

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I put 6 in 6' tubes. I think 4 lived. Of those 4, one came outta the tube nicely and continued growing like normal. The others seem to be just stuck. Not dead, not diseased, but not growing anymore. I think they may be too close to the forest edge and are getting the nutrients sucked out from under them.

I'll probably cut the tubes down to 30" and throw a 3' diameter 5' tall cage on them. That outta do it.

 

[catscratch]

I put 6 in 6' tubes. I think 4 lived. Of those 4, one came outta the tube nicely and continued growing like normal. The others seem to be just stuck. Not dead, not diseased, but not growing anymore. I think they may be too close to the forest edge and are getting the nutrients sucked out from under them.

I'll probably cut the tubes down to 30" and throw a 3' diameter 5' tall cage on them. That outta do it.

I think my next attempt will be a row of them under a folded panel. Give them room to grow... but the deer can still nip them as the pop out

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[JDunham]

Elderberry is pretty easy to grow in my experience. The hard part is keeping the deer off them as most here have stated. Give them good cages so they can get above the reach of the deer. The deer will keep the lower parts browsed. The deer obviously like them.

 

[j-bird]

I have found at least on my place they like well drained but damp soils and lots of sunlight. I have some that have grown to 10 feet tall that I will be cutting back. I have found that you can cut them back pretty heavily and they respond just fine as log as they are well established. The best way for me to find them is to wait for them to flower as the big white flowers are easy to spot from a distance along the wooded edges of creeks and wet areas and the like that get sunshine.

 

[Heart shot]

Thx for the help. So what are the steps to get them growing using cuttings? I’ve never done cuttings before? When do I get the cuttings and how do I plant them? Thx for the help!

 

[Native Hunter]

This one kept getting browsed down until I caged it. New it's grown a little bit. Started by a little seedling.

 

[Mennoniteman]

We always dug up several pieces of root from the host plant and planted that. Like the guys said, if you have any deer within a mile, don't even bother unless you put up a 3' diameter wire circle 4' high anchored with 2 metal fence posts.

 

[shedder]

It shows the difference between my deer numbers and elsewhere. It has no problem out growing deer here.