I hadn’t tried the 5 gal bucket trick. But just pull out what I can easily while they are frozen and leave the rest. 80/20 rule! I don’t have bitterness complaints in my finished product but it is definitely bitter unsweetened.
2 Likes
That boiled grass taste is gutting after waiting all year for them. I’ve had similar with mine when I pushed too much water to cover - keeping it minimal and simmering slow seems to help concentrate the flavour more. Or just go straight to syrup with sugar added while hot, that usually rescues a thin batch.
2 Likes
Snipped of 2 grocery bags full of rip cymes, I have them in the freezer now. Nice berries from this particular plant.
9 Likes
If you have room in a deep freezer, freezing the chimes does two things for you.
-
While still frozen whack against the inside of 5 gallon bucket. The berries fall free from the stems fairly easily into the bottom of the bucket.
-
The berry pulp ruptures along with the skin which makes juice extraction much easier and more efficient.
9 Likes
Nice
1 Like
what variety? those as some big a** berries!
3 Likes
They are big! They’ve never been this large. It was sold to be as Adam’s. I don’t know if that’s correct. My “York” also has made huge berries this year. I truly don’t think any of mine are true to name. Happy to send you cuttings in end January whe I prune.
2 Likes
thanks but i have 6 elders with one that puts out the like 3 of the others. i got johns, york, marge and a wild one. my 3 marges are just starting to produce. the other 3 are in full production. the marges are supposed to have big berries like that. mine are about a month before they ripen.
4 Likes
I’m extremely novice when it comes to elderberry but unless I’m mistaken, this is a huge cluster of them growing under this blue spruce, right? What confuses me is just earlier this year I had an absolute infestation of nightshade vines that were just thriving under the tree from last year so I crawled under the tree and hand pulled them all out. I killed the vast majority of it because I only see small sprouts here and there (some reached the top of the tree which is like 15ft maybe). Anyway, what appears to be elderberry has completely taken over the understory of this tree and is taller than 6ft and still growing.
Assuming this is elderberry, how are they getting so big so fast? I can promise there was no lignified wood under that tree early spring this year and I’m seeing them pop up as individual plants inside cages of trees I just planted last year (pulled it out, definitely not a connected root sucker).
Anyway, how would you all go about making selections for the keepers? I don’t mind dense growth but I feel like there will be way too much competition there. The tallest ones are south facing and I guess the tree was the perfect nursery for them. This is a very fertile part of the yard that tends to hold moisture a bit longer than other areas, which seems conducive to their growth. I assume this is all substantial growth from this year from bird dropping seedlings. There’s a vast lake/natural area only maybe half a mile from me with what I know to be elderberry based simply on the fact it has fruit.
1 Like
You said your’s was an unknown variety correct? If you are up for it, when you go to cut the canes I’d love to try it out in my conditions. Even if it worked half as well for me it would be a step up.
1 Like
I don’t think that is elderberry. Though elderberries can grow that fast in a year.
4 Likes
Looks more like Bidens frondosa - Wikipedia than an Elderberry to me.
3 Likes
Pretty sure you’re right, I was reading about look alikes and it might be Devil’s beggarstick. It should set seed and be very obvious if that’s what it is. Makes more sense because I couldn’t comprehend elderberry growing from seed to 6ft in a single season.
1 Like
Yep pretty sure you’re spot on with that. Visually seems somewhat similar to the untrained eye, especially that insane vigor. This stuff grows back after being mowed like nothing happened. I have plans for actual elderberry too, I just thought maybe I got a lucky Jumpstart.
1 Like
I wouldn’t put it past elderberry to be abble to grow that much from seed if it is in a perfect environment, though under a tree is not.
3 Likes
yeah, ive had elder seed grow to 3-4ft. in a summer. in a warmer region i bet they could make it to 6ft. in good conditions.
3 Likes
My plan is to take some seeds from the local wild ones and put them against some cultivars and see how they compare. Wish I had more space because I’d love to breed them and see what happens. If they grow anything like my black raspberries, the wild ones have drastically higher initial vigor but likely due to the ecotype/being acclimated to this particular area.
2 Likes
the only wlid one ive ever found up here i have it growing in my yard from a cutting. found it along a old logging road. its smaller than the other 3 cultivars i grow but its covered with smaller cymes and still produces well. flavor is the same as the others.
2 Likes
This was August 9th so pretty recently, good chance I missed the harvest by now but what do you all think of these? I understand the berries are smaller than cultivars but they all seem fairly abundant. This is only like half a mile from me so I can try taking cuttings and try growing some from seed.
3 Likes