European elder ( Sambucus canadensis ) , which can grow wild or be cultivate , are a beneficial yield , gamy in vitamin C , but without deliberate attention to reap , the tiny Berry will end up on the earth alternatively of in your mouth . If you sense uncomfortable about rake up your elderberry harvesting , there are some things you may do to prepare your plant before the yield set forth to throw off .
Elderberry harvest occur in late summer through other fall , and the best elbow room to prepare for the crop is to keep an eye on the yield as they ripen . The berries will have a whitish sheen on the Earth’s surface , and as they ripen , the sheen will get whiter — experience will teach you when the metre to harvest is correct . Remove the total clump ( I practice clippers ) when it ’s right , and denude the berries from the stem into containers . Because right berries are fragile , cool them in the icebox immediately .
Give immature elderberry plants plenty of space . They ’re tight - growing and exuberant producers when happily sited in the garden . grow by nature in wet areas , they attain up to 12 feet grandiloquent and 6 feet wide , with large , feather - like leaves up to 1 foot long that give agency to tumid flattened clusters of tiny , white , star - shaped flowers . A multi - cauline suckering shrub , the stalk and branch are pithy and soft rather than woody , forming dense thickets . With a leggy riding habit and rather coarse texture , elderberry shrubs tend to be baseless and unkempt - looking unless pruned sporadically . After florescence , you ’ll see the obscure - purpleness to black Chuck Berry forming on purple stems .
Because elderberries produce fruit on both young and old wood , there ’s some chance to increase the number of berries you could harvest through right pruning . The plants send up novel canes each yr that normally reach full altitude in one time of year . The next year , those canes will develop lateral or side branches , and more new cane will acquire . Flowers and yield will develop on the tip of the new growth but especially on the laterals that developed the old season , making 2nd - class cane with plenitude of laterals the most fruitful . In the third year , they begin to undermine , and in the geezerhood that follow , they ’re not very fruitful .
To maximize your berry harvest , bump off all dead , broken or rickety cane , as well as all canes more than 3 years old , in recent winter while the plant life are inactive . impart an equal number of 1- , 2- and 3 - year - old cane . Some varieties usable for yield production from seed retailers across the country are York , Johns and Kent .
This article first look in the March / April 2014 issuance ofHobby Farm Home .
