Elderberry Experiment: Update #3

[NeoGreen]

Last edited Fri Apr 13, 2018, 12:56 PM - Edit history (2)

So, progress slowed since the last update.

In mid August the berries should have been ripening to a purple color but were still mostly green:




And some plants were still flowering:



I attribute this to planting late (~ 1st week of June).



Later in early September the berries started to turn:


And some made great progress:


But I started to see some losses due to predation (deer nibbling at what they could reach):




So, today I harvested ~65% of the berries (100% of what was obviously ripe).
Which netted not quiet 2.75 pounds on the vine:


After about 1.5 hours of one person gently stripping off the berries:


I got about 2.25 pounds of just berries:




Which are now evenly split into 2 quart sized zip-lock bags in the freezer.

[Bayard]

1. Is this first year plants?

[NeoGreen]

2. Yep...

...I had pre-ordered a dozen plants (12-inch roots) in January, and when only 2 showed up in late May (everything else was out of stock) I went to a local nursery and bought 10 18-inch plants in pots about the first week of June.

I hadn't expected any production this year, when I made my initial order in January, so all in all I am happy with the out come so far this year.

Oh and one of the two that arrived by mail died. So from here on out I'm driving to the nursery. My plan is for at least 10 more plants next year in April. I'd like to shoot for 20 more, but that might not be in the budget.

[WhiteTara]

3. Good job!

I saw a few light colored berries...make sure you remove all of them and every little piece of stem.

I made mine into pies. We started out with a normal 9" pie and realized that we couldn't eat the whole thing before it became stale or inedible so we gave the last bits to the crows and I made about 18 little individual pies. I froze those and we'll indulge in the middle of winter.

You'll find that your harvest will really increase after a few years. I leave most of mine to the birds. I actually planted them for the cedar waxwings who I'm told find them delicious. Although there are never any left during the waxwings visitation times because the crows love them too and live in the neighborhood.

I'm transplanting seedlings this year to spread out the plants. I'm using them as a visual cover at the road too.

[handmade34]

4. awesome...

jealous of your many plants...


I have one large bush in the front yard and just cleaned about 4 lbs last night... gently heated them with honey and will freeze them tonight... good stuff!!

[femmocrat]

5. Very impressive!

We have wild elderberries here but the birds always get them before I can.

I notice that your enclosures don't have tops... how do you keep the birds away?

[NeoGreen]

6. I wrapped 8 of the 10 enclosures in Bird Netting...

...once the berries started to turn. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos up close of the ones with netting after it was added.

You can barely see the netting on the near enclosure to the right in the photo:


Oops, I lied... found a photo with the netting:


I left 2 without netting as a test to see what kind of loss I might expect from birds. Didn't notice any significant bird losses, however that is not to say they didn't eat some.

NG