WHO is growing Elderberries?

[Gary350]

Are Elderberries a fruit?

Is anyone growing Elderberries?

How many berries do you get from 1 plant?

How many plants do I need to get 3 gallons of berries?

Who sells Elderberry plants?

Are there different varieties?

Wild elderberries us to be easy to find along country roads but not anymore. I found 1 plant with 1 cup of berries on it.

[applestar]

I’ve been growing elderberries for a while now.

I found this thread that I actually forgot about and haven’t contributed to in a while.
Elderberries and Elderflowers - HelpfulGardener.com
viewtopic.php?t=69226
…I think my other posts have been scattered among my annual garden threads and maybe some of the other discussions.

I originally bought by mail order — some place pretty ordinary I think — maybe Gurney’s? (I can picture the catalog… I know it wasn’t a more expensive sources like Edible Landscaping… it could have been White Flower Farm.) Mine was a ‘Johns’ and ‘Adams’ American elderberries set because “they need cross pollinization to produce well.”

I don’t know what I have now because my original plants died, but others have volunteered from bird-dropped seeds in different parts of the garden. These “wilder” selections also readily spread by root runners. And one or another clump will produce massive umbels.

I noticed over the years since I bought mine, there have been introductions of more ornamental cultivars and also European and/or American/European hybrids.

Just this morning while researching, there was another named cultivar that was self-pollinating and didn’t need a 2nd variety. This was listed at Fast Growing Trees in South Carolina. (Price was pretty high though — better to wait for a good sale or discount code.)

My harvest of the berries varies from year to year because —

- the upper portions of the shrub unpredictably winter kills or survives here — they are more productive when properly pruned for the winterkill
- Also, I harvest the flowers to make elderflower syrup. - Some years, I take more flowers and (therefore) less berries.
- Some years, I make more effort to protect the berries from birds by bagging entire umbels in veg netting bags

— hope that answered some of your questions

[Gary350]

There is a wild elderberry plant down the road 1 mile I have been keeping an eye on for several weeks. This morning berries are ripe so I cut off the berry clusters. Then I decided to do an elderberry hunt like I use to do years ago. I drove out into the country on the old highway and found elderberries growing at a stop sign so I harvested all of them. Next I found elderberries on a fence. Next I found elderberries at a bridge. I pushed all the berries I could into 1 bucket then took bucket to SUV to get empty bucket. I picked more berries. Drove another 20 miles and found nothing. Then I took the short cut home. I drove and wife was the look out for elderberries. Its impossible to drive an look for berries too.

On the patio I trimmed away the larger stems and put all the berries in 3 Walmart plastic bags. Bags are now in the freezer. Tomorrow morning berries will be hard rock marbles they are very easy to remove berries from stems. Lay a cluster of berries on the table then push your hand across the berries. Berries roll and stems don't. Collect berries quick get them back in freezer before they melt. Birds found ripe berries today there probably won't be any to find tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning I will learn how many berries I really have once stems are gone. I need a dependable supply of berries in the back yard.

[mixednuts]

looks awesome. you have a good haul there. I love growing elderberry. There are different varieties of elderberry plants that are available from nurseries now, with bigger berries and larger clusters than the wild elder. They grow the same and you can even take cuttings in the early spring and push them into the ground and it will grow a new plant.