My elderberry plants look gorgeous with many flowers. However, I don’t see any berries forming. My plants were purchased in pots last year and planted right away. I have John and Adams. They are now 6 feet tall.
3 Likes
I have york and ranch and they flower in may… and not long after form small green fruit clusters… which get larger over time and eventually turn red then deep purple near black.
My wild elderberries are in bloom now… and they normally have ripe berries mid August.
My york and ranch bloom a bit later but ripen earlier than wild.
TNHunter
Should I be able to see little berries where the flowers finished blooming? It just looks like nothing is there! I have great plans for my elderberry harvest and I’m kind of nervous about the production. Maybe the plants are not quite old enough. Possible?
If the flowers are falling off you might not get berries, but if just the petals fall there should be berries forming. I’ve had berries form on a 2 foot tall first year plant that was started as a cutting in the spring, so I don’t think it is a matter of age or size. Good luck.
they may be too young yet. mine did that in their 2nd year.
I started my York and Ranch Elderberry (purchased from OGW) early spring 2019.
May 23 2019 I took this picture above, some blooms were open and others were getting ready to open… sorry but that is the only Pic that I have, none of them just starting to set fruit… but best I remember as the blooms die back - pretty much just like blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc… the blooms fade and then tiny green fruit start to develop.
That tiny green berry gets larger and larger, eventually turning red, then purple, and near black (ready to pick).
Mine bloomed first year but that may not always be the case. I am in Zone 7a Tennessee.
TNHunter
I found this pic with a google search that shows some green berries early on… you can see right at the end of the little flower stem, how that green berry developes… they are of course tiny at first, but get larger over time.
If your blooms drop, and you loose the little flower stem too, or the little flower stems are there but no fruit develops ---- sounds like you may just have to wait another year.
At the end of my first year I got a decent little crop off my 3 bushes… put up a couple pints of berries (frozen) and made syrup from them over winter and into early spring as needed.
Last year, we had a very rainy spring, I mean VERY rainy… and pretty much rained most of the time my elderberries were blooming… It messed them up, blooms dropped, no fruit in my second year. Hoping for a better year this year. If you have had lots of rain while yours were blooming… that could be an issue to cause fruiting to fail… happened to me last year.
Good Luck !
TNHunter
1 Like
So far the flower clusters are there and so I guess I just wait and see. Thank you.
Mine are beautiful and flowers are still present so now I will wait and see if I get berries. Thanks.