Planting elderberries?

[naturelady]

What are the type of elderberies I would need to plant to make syrup, etc out of? It seems like I need a black elderberry, but the nursery sights I was looking at to buy a couple don't mention black, just the names like York or Nova... I want to make sure I get the right ones! (Or where is a good place to buy the black ones from?)

[Vic303]

IIRC both York and Nova are Sambuca Nigra xxxx. With the xxxx being the specific variety. It's the S.Nigra that has the beneficial immuno-boosting properties. Also in order to get the best pollination, and hence berry production, they say you need at least 1 York & 1 Nova.

[naturelady]

Cool !! Those two varities seem to be the ones I am mostly seeing on the nursery websites, and it does advise getting at least one of each. Thanks so much!

 

[westbrook]

I have elderberries.

[naturelady]

I am going to give raising them a try. I have never raised them before, so I will be doing lotsa research on them. I know there is good info on this site, I just gotta go back and find it !

 

[coyotemist]

I'm here in Oregon...my MIL has both a black and a red. She just stuck them in the ground, and they took off! Nothing special. We do get a lot of rain, but on dry days the first year she'd water them on dry days. Now they are practically trees! I made a gallon of cordial/tincture last year, and have barely touched it.

 

I really like a shot in my ginger ale when I am getting sick.

[westbrook]

the berries dry on the tree, fall off, winter's rain waters them and they grow.

 

we didn't get enough rain this year to germinate them.

 

I have the black elderberries. Yes they can be propergated by sticking cuttings in the ground.

 

 

 

http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/elderberry.html

 

http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/elderberriesnav.htm

 

 

 

 

 

info on

 

nutritional value http://www.nuyakacreek.com/elderberry.htm

health http://www.medicinehunter.com/elderberry2.htm

 

 

 

 

Elderberry seeds are difficult to germinate because of their dormant embryo and hard seed coats. A 10-15 minute soak in H2SO4 (NOTE: I looked this up.. ACID! I think not! mine grow in the wild just fine.. unless you consider 'acid rain' the key factor! ROFL) followed by two months cold-moist stratification at 34-40 degrees F is suggested. 145

 

Fresh seeds, stratify 2-3 months.123months. 123

 

Dry S. glauca (now S. nigra cerulea) seed stored for 450 days at room temperature was stratified at 41 degrees F for 98 days. 129

 

Pretreatment of elderberry seeds usually consists of 90 days of warm stratification followed by 90 days of prechilling. Heit (1967c) suggests 10-15 minutes soaking in acid followed by 2 months of prechilling. 146

 

In ref #139: Moist chill at 41 degrees F for 98 days (Brinkman 1974I). Moist chill in sand at 5degrees C for 16-64 weeks (McKeever 1938).

 

Store at room temperature for 450 days, followed by a cold stratification period of 90-100 days at 5 degrees C. 97

 

The fruit may be a) dried, run through a macerator with water to float off the pulp and empty seeds, or c) crushed, dried, and used without further cleaning. Commercial seed may consist of either dried fruit or cleaned seed. After a short drying period, freshly extracted seed may be fanned or screened to remove debris. Excessive drying should be avoided. Small lots of fruit may be cleaned in a food blender. Cover berries with water and run the blender long enough to macerate the fruit. Rinse several times to float off pulp and debris. Separate seeds from the last rinse in a filter line funnel and dry on filter paper. 129

 

Macerate with water, float off, dry, fan, and screen. Dybvig with water, dry, fan, and float. 139

 

Seeds ripen in early autumn, 3 seeds per fruit. 152

 

Reproduces fairly well from cuttings. 139

 

Hardwood cuttings from the last season’s growth. 97

 

Softwood cuttings in June and July 133

 

Will establish easily from cuttings and 1-year-old nursery stock. Six-month-old plants in containers will establish quickly. 195

 

Clean seed sown in fall. 213

 

Cuttings should be taken from Oct. to Dec. but can be successful all year 224

 

Take cuttings during winter and with a heel so as not to expose the pith. 97 ; very easy to grow from hardwood cuttings 224

 

Elder seed can be sown in the fall soon after collection, or stratified and sown in the spring. In either case, germination often is not complete until the second spring. At the USDA Forest Service nursery in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, dried seed of S. glauca (now S. nigra cerulea) usually is soaked in water for 3 days, then stratified in vermiculite for 3 months at 34 degrees F before spring sowing. A seedling density of 35 plants per square foot is sought. Seed is sown ¼ " deep in drills and covered with about 3/8" of sawdust mulch. Fall-sown seedbeds should be mulched. 129

 

A seedling density of 370 plants per m^{2 is desired. It may be desirable to sow seeds as soon as they are collected, without allowing them to dry. 146}

 

Plant in fall or spring after stratification, sunny exposure, medium to coarse soil with organic matter, 7.0 pH, deep, moist to dry, well drained. 139

For spring sowing, seed is soaked in water for 3 days, then stratified in vermiculite for 3 months at 1 degree C. Sow at 0.6 cm deep and cover with a thin layer of sawdust mulch. Mulch fall-sown seedbeds. Outplant usually after one year. 97

 

Clean seed sown in the fall. 133

 

all of the above was cached at:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=growing...&icp=1&.intl=us

the main link wasn't found: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/native/ts92.htm which is why I copied and pasted the information.