Elder growing / Orchard design

February 8, 2023

American vs European elder

We grow American elder (Sambucus canadensis), sometimes called American black elder, a plant native to eastern North America and Central America.

Other varieties of elder grow in North America, including the blue elder (Sambucus cerulea), Mexican elder (Sambucus mexicana), and red elder (Sambucus racemosa). (1)

European elder (Sambucus nigra) is the most common elder native to Europe and Great Britain. This is the elderberry commonly sold by online stores and local health food markets.

The berries and flower of American elder offer similar flavor and health benefits and can be used in the same ways as European elder.

American elder varieties are genetically almost identical to European elder, but American varieties are more cold hardy and tend to grow more vigorously in our climates. (2) American elder typically grow as multi-stemmed bushes while European varieties are usually somewhat taller shrubby trees.

Another difference — European elderberries contain significant levels of cyanogenic glycosides, a family of chemicals that can be converted into cyanide, a hazardous chemical. European elderberries must be heated or otherwise processed to deactivate these glycosides. American elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) have low levels of glycosides — lower than commercial apple juice. The berries and juice are safe to consume without special treatment according to peer-reviewed, published research by the University of Missouri. (3,4)

“…Taking all of this information into consideration, my personal conclusion is that elderberries are as safe to consume as apples, with or without heating….” (5)

That said, consuming fresh berries of any kind can cause digestive upset in some people. Consume small amounts of fresh berries or juice until you know how your body reacts.

References:

(1) Wikipedia. Sambucus. Downloaded 16 February 2020 from en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sambucus&oldid=933640739

(2) Observations from Carandale Farm, Univ of Wisconsin. Uncommon Fruit: European elderberry. Downloaded 20 February 2020 from uncommonfruit.cias.wisc.edu/european-elderberry/

(3) University of Missouri Extension Service staff. Unpublished results presented at the 2019 Comprehensive Elderberry Workshop hosted by River Hills Harvest. Jefferson City, MO, 14-15 June 2019. Powerpoint slides from this talk downloaded 19 March 2020 from https://www.greatplainsgrowersconference.org/uploads/2/9/1/4/29140369/elderberry_cyanide_st._joe_january_2019.pdf

(4) Appenteng MK, Krueger R, Johnson MC, Ingold H, Bell R, Thomas AL, Greenlief CM. Cyanogenic Glycoside Analysis in American Elderberry. Molecules. 2021 Mar 4;26(5):1384. doi: 10.3390/molecules26051384. PMID: 33806603; PMCID: PMC7961730. Abstract downloaded 9 February 2022 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33806603/

(5) Rebekah Bailey. Elderberry Toxicity. The Essential Herbal magazine, Nov/Dec 2019 issue. Republished online in its entirety in a 15 March 2020 blog post by Tina Sams, editor and publisher of The Essential Herbal. Downloaded 16 March 2020 from https://theessentialherbal.blogspot.com/2020/03/elderberry-new-research.html

March 22, 2022

Planning an elder orchard

DJ Elder growing / Orchard design

Here are our suggestions for planning an elder orchard that performs well and is pleasant to maintain and work in. These ideas are based on our experience as small-scale growers in the upper Midwest.

Choose the site for your elder orchard with care. A sunny, fertile site that stays slightly on the damp side is ideal. Avoid dry upland locations, low-lying boggy areas, or overly shady sites. If you have an area in full sun where grass usually grows lush and green, that might be a prime spot for elderberries.

Elder prefers soil with the ability to retain moisture and nutrients yet still drains well. Good soil types would be silty-loam or clay-loam soils rather than sandy soil or heavy clay.

If you live in the right climate and carefully choose the location for your elder orchard, irrigation may only be needed for young plants. We irrigate plants for the first couple of years using inexpensive soaker hoses from the hardware store. We do not irrigate mature plants.

Some growers in warmer regions of North America are skeptical that elderberries can thrive without supplemental irrigation, but we are not the only growers in the upper Midwest who do not irrigate and get good results. Growers in hotter or drier climates or those with sandier, drier soils, however, may need to install permanent irrigation systems for elderberry to thrive.

Two year old plants in rows spaced 14 feet apart. It seems like there is plenty of room between rows at this age, but that will change as time passes.

We like to space rows at least 14 feet apart and have debated whether a 16 foot spacing between rows would be better. A 14-16 foot spacing might seem overly generous to the inexperienced eye, but remember elderberry plants spread a lot as they mature.

Leave aisles wide enough so you can get a riding mower, small tractor or ATV, and other equipment between rows with minimal damage to the canes. Other benefits of a generous aisle width are maximizing the sunlight that reaches the plants and encouraging air movement for disease control.

Elder bushes in bloom — 3-4 year old elder plants planted 2 feet apart within the row. Rows are spaced about 14 feet apart. These older bushes shade a lot of the aisle. As berries develop, the canes will be weighed down and spread even more.

We space our plants no more than 2 feet apart within each row. As the plants mature and spread, they will form a nearly continuous line of plants along the row. This discourages a lot of weed growth within the row.

Young elder plant with new mulch — Newly transplanted elder plant (center) in a row mulched with paper (brownish purple at top center) and coarse wood shavings. We will add a layer of old hay or bark mulch over the shavings.

Mulching around young plants is absolutely a requirement. Mulch controls grasses and other weeds that will otherwise stunt or kill the small elder plants. Mulch also keeps the soil cooler and moister to reduce the need for irrigation and minimize stress on young plants.

Some growers use plastic sheeting or plastic weed barrier as mulch. We have been using a continuous layer of paper mulch on either side of the elder plants to smother young weed seedlings. We have used heavy commercial paper mulch that comes in large rolls or thick layers of recycled newspaper sheets or a combination of both.

We will sometimes cover the paper mulch with a layer of coarse wood shavings (sold in large bales for animal bedding) for short term protection and to fill in any gaps in the paper.

The wood shavings are not strictly necessary, but they are easy and light enough to quickly scatter over and around tender young plants as we plant. Unless the weather is really windy, the shavings will hold the paper in place for a day or two until we have time to add the heavier hay or bark mulch.

A generous layer of old hay or bark mulch is applied over the shavings for longer lasting weed control and better protection from wind.

When finished, the mulch extends 1 1/2 to 2 feet on either side of the elder plants. That allows us to mow safely along the edge of mulch without damaging the plants.

Nova elder cuttings 7 weeks after planting — First year plants protected with paper and hay mulch

We renew the hay/bark mulch every year for the first two or three years. As elder plants become taller and more lush, they will shade out all but the worst of the weeds and further mulching is not strictly necessary.

Regular mowing along the aisles, hand weeding within the rows, and perhaps some careful spot applications of herbicide do a pretty good job of controlling weeds in a mature planting.

Ways to obtain elder plants include purchasing established elder plants or purchasing hardwood cuttings of named varieties or propagating local wild elder plants.

Many people opt for purchasing and rooting hardwood cuttings as a way to control costs. Here are two tutorials about this method of growing elder plants —

River Hills Harvest: Elderberry care and planting instructions

Our alternative method: Direct-planting hardwood cuttings (the “stick planting” method)

May 28, 2020

Direct-planting hardwood cuttings

DJ Elder growing / Orchard design

One method of propagating elder plants is planting dormant, unrooted hardwood cuttings directly into the orchard soil. The unrooted cuttings are essentially sticks, so we call this a “stick” planting method.

Does it work? We decided to find out.

In the spring of 2020, some of our elder bushes were old enough to harvest cuttings. In early April, we direct-planted one full row of our home-grown York sticks and a partial row of Nova sticks.

The videos and photos below are an overview of how we planted the sticks and how the cuttings performed.

Preparing the site

We used a no-till, no-herbicide method. The grass and other vegetation within the row was first mowed as short as possible (scalped) to stunt the grass, and the cuttings planted directly into this sod. We added a thick layer of mulch to smother most of the weeds and grass and will remove stubborn weeds by hand as needed.

If you do not want to till or use glyphosate (Roundup) to kill existing grass and weeds, it is extremely important to mow the vegetation as short as you safely can before planting. Scalping the ground with a mower can be hard on the mower blade, but scalping will stunt the grass and weeds so the mulch has more time to smother and kill most of this unwanted vegetation.

We used a heavyweight paper mulch with a hard, flat surface finish to prepare the experimental rows shown in these videos. In the past, we have used a heavyweight paper mulch with a softer “creped” finish instead. The creped paper works better for us.

Creping adds a stretchy, crinkly texture which helps the paper lie flat on the ground, especially after it has been wetted. This discourages weed growth along the edges of the paper and makes the paper less prone to being lifted by the wind.

Old newspapers are a low- or no-cost alternative to purchased paper mulch. We lay down 4-6 sheets per layer and overlap the edges to make a thick, continuous covering. Once wetted, newsprint also lies flat.

Planting the cuttings

“Stick” planting should be done as early in spring as is practical, so the cool weather of early spring can inhibit the growth of leaves. If too many leaves sprout before the roots can develop, the cutting will die.

We normally plant rooted cuttings or established plants about 2 feet apart within a row. For this experimental “stick” planting, we spaced the cuttings about 1 foot apart within the row, because we have no idea going into this project what the survival rate will be. Based on what we learn from this experiment, we may use a wider spacing for future stick plantings.

An elderberry cutting normally has 4 buds — a pair of buds at the top and a pair near the bottom. Ideally the buds should not show any green at the time they are planted. The bottom buds are pushed below the soil surface while the upper buds remain above the ground.

Hardwood cuttings from elderberry — Hardwood cuttings from an elderberry plant. Note the angled cut on the bottom? That is the end that goes in the soil.

It takes a lot of force to push a cutting directly into our soil, and that is hard on hands and on the cuttings. We chose larger cuttings for this planting method; sturdy sticks like those in the photo (above) worked well.

We experimented with ways to quickly cut a small, deep hole in the soil. What worked best was pushing the tip of an old bayonet straight down into the ground about 6 inches deep.

We found planting was even easier if we made one cut with the blade, rotated the blade 90 degrees, and then pushed it into the same hole again to make an “X” shaped hole.

We tried to minimize damage to the bottom buds by aligning the buds so their tips pointed along one of the “X” cuts made by the knife.

We also learned to push the cuttings into the soil using care to avoid damaging the top buds. That said, a little damage is inevitable. The bottom buds often develop shoots as well as roots, so we just did our best and did not worry too much about damaging a few of the top buds.

After planting several dozen cuttings just with gloved hands, we realized we had to find a hand-saver to spread out the force. A bright yellow plastic cap borrowed from a tee post in a nearby fence became an ideal hand-saver, as shown in the video below. A small piece of wood with a large hole drilled in it, a PVC end cap for sewer pipe, or similar object will work just as well — anything to spread out the force.

Adding starter fertilizer and a final mulch of hay

We used old hay for the top mulch, but any type of heavy mulch will work, including wood chips from a municipal compost site, forestry service, or garden supply. Chips from municipal compost sites can contain varying amounts of plastic and metal bits, so try to get chips from a pile that is as clean as possible.

We had some very windy days after planting these experimental rows. Even with a generous layer of hay, the wind lifted and dislodged the smooth-finished paper mulch and hay. This has not been a problem with rows covered with a creped paper mulch and similar layer of hay, so I am inclined to think the smooth paper is the culprit.

To solve this problem, we added more hay and pinned the mulch in place with temporary stakes (step-in electric fence posts, to be exact). As the weeks go by, the paper and hay should mat down and become more wind resistant. We will eventually remove the stakes.

Seven weeks after planting

Chuck irrigated the “stick” plantings a couple of times in the weeks after planting. Since then, the hay and paper mulch and a few rain showers have kept the soil sufficiently moist.

The Nova sticks are looking really good which is a happy surprise. When we propagate Nova cuttings in pots, a large majority do not survive. Stick planting may be an excellent way to propagate this variety.

The York sticks appear to be a tiny bit less vigorous compared with the Nova sticks. Compared to York cuttings started in pots, however, the stick planted Yorks are performing very well.

At this point in late May, I estimate 5-10 cuttings per 100 sticks planted are not showing any shoots or other signs of life. Elder cuttings often surprise us by sprouting shoots long after we have given up hope, however, so we will wait until fall before making a final conclusion about the actual loss.

Nova elder cuttings 7 weeks after planting, closeup — Stick cuttings 7 weeks after planting, closeup

Seven months after planting

As of October, the overall failure rate of our stick planting trial is about 5%. In other words, about 1 stick in 20 did not grow.

We irrigated another time during a dry spell in August. We also weeded and re-mulched the rows toward the end of summer to reduce weed competition and keep the soil cooler and more moist. Otherwise these young plants have been on their own, and they have thrived surprisingly well.

We are very happy with these results. This stick planting method eliminates all of the labor and materials needed to root cuttings, dormant sticks are easier to plant compared with rooted cuttings and established plants, and the failure rate is considerably lower compared with rooted cuttings.