I have a Johns from Starkbros and the thing is a beast. Grows straight up and is around 9’ at the start of its third year. Bob Gordon seems to have caught up with Wyldewood a foot or two behind. I removed a few canes from the bunch for cuttings over the Winter. Mites (possibly from a neighbor’s nearby, neglected and slowly dying Arborvitae?) on new growth seem to be their only problems.
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i havent seen any bugs on them here and i thought the birds left them alone until i found 7 seedlings growing all over the yard.
The mites are too small to really see, less than 1mm, and hanging out in crevices or under leaves. The birds opened a gooseberry breeding program in my yard for me. I’m going to grow some out to see if they’re any good.
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Funny you mentioned you planted walking onions under them, because that’s what I did.
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whats suprising is how well they are doing there. onions are heavy feeders yet i havent fertilized other than woodchip mulch and they are growing and spreading like crazy. they dont form big bulbs so maybe not as heavy feeders as commercial varieties but both elders and onions are shallow rooted so i guess they play well together. its a battle to control the canes so they dont smother the onions.
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Flower buds on John and Adam … John is extremely vigorous compared to Adam. It also is suckering. Adam is also growing well but much more upright vs bushy and trying to take over 
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How many plants are you growing? I have one that hopefully will fruit for the first time this year. So far it is thriving in spite of my neglect.
Just picked up 5 Yorks in one gallon pots. Anyone that can report if that variety is a good one?
Also, the guy I got them from had the pots submerged deep in water. When I asked him about it he said they love it. Odd, but they seemed to be doing well.
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Make gummy bears!
Technically, I think they are plants that grow naturally where the water table is high. That said, last year, I took to emptying my hose on 2 after I finished watering and after 2 weeks they got crazy sad and dropped a lot of leaves. Stopped, went back to ignoring them/only rain and they perked back up, regrew and were happy. I can’t explain it. But, I ignore mine and they thrive.
Also, you should get another variety. Nova is the classic pairing. I have a bunch.
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I have a John and Adam planted right beside a 1 ft deep drainage ditch. They are growing like weeds. They get flooded regularly
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one thing im noticing, that the nurseries dont really tell you, is how many suckers a elder sends out sometimes 10 - 15ft. from the plant. its worse than my blackberries. no mention of this on the websites selling them or anywhere else for that matter. i got them popping up everywhere. if i dont cut them, my yard would become one big elder patch in short order.
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The John is doing that like crazy, I haven’t seen the Adam doing it. There’s probably at least 5 suckers all around it in a 5 ft circle
york isnt doing it yet but john has like 15 or so about 6in tall in between my walking onions that are under it. i planted 3 marges from cuttings 2 years ago. 2 are about 4ft. the smallest is about 2ft. they are more precocious than johns so im worried they may try to eat my yard and chickens. lol!
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I haven’t seen marge do that
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Suckering seems very variety dependent. Marge hasn’t had any suckers for me. My Wyldewood accidentally got planted with a native (because I assumed it was dead). Hard to say 100%, but it appears that the Wyldewood doesn’t or hardly suckers, and the native one suckers like mad.
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that’s good to hear. i have a wild one near my chicken run. so far its stayed put but its under the shade of a large black willow.
My Marge elderberry that I planted this year is sending up suckers
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mine was planted last year and is sending up probably a doz. shoots per bush. i think these are going to be alot more productive than my american elders.
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Elderberry cuttings went bananas since dividing them into 1g’s two weeks ago. Took one out to replace a failed cutting I bought this winter, and the roots looked like this! Quite the change from the picture 2 weeks ago. I’m wondering if they really liked the sand- I was out of perlite, but had some leftover sand and mixed it in with the coir and a little compost. Although, I also added alfalfa pellets. Regardless, it’s ridiculously fun to do this (root and “unwrap”), and I think I’ll be making as many as I have space for every winter and set up a free table at the street.
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