Wow I never get berries from every single flower like that. That’s amazing!
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you should be. its funny as i never see polinators on my elders yet they are all pollinated. maybe night bees come pollinate them 
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Interesting. I see bees of various kinds whenever I go over to them. They only get about 75% pollinated the last 2 years. I’m kind of throwing my hands up and saying WHATEVER, FIGURE YOURSELF OUT when I walk past them. Other things to do, help and eat!
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There are some real good ones growing wild here and some that are not so good. The good ones develop full heads of berries that ripen all at the same time. Havest the entire head is very nice.
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You want to try and root some hard wood cuttings? They root very easily and I can send you some cuttings from the one pictured late this winter. I dont have a clue about the variety though. The one pictured grows about 8 to 10 foot tall. We stand in the back of the pickup a snip off the entire heads. Then we freeze the heads overnight and the smack the head on the inside of 5 gallon buckets the next day, the berries fall off pretty clean with very little stem if smacked while frozen. We then bag them up I think 4 cups to gallon and stick them back in the freezer. My wife processes them when she gets an itching too, so I cant really comment on that part.
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Great method! I would love to add a wild one, thank you for offer! I’ll message you in January.
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Besides for bees and other insects, I believe elders are also wind pollinated. Of course it helps to have some honeysuckle close by and also give the stems a thump while walking by when they are in flower. Similar to how you would pollinate corn when it’s in tassel.
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Absolutely, please do message me and i’ll get you some fresh hardwood cuttings to root.
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I drove several hours for vacation this year during peak bloom and kept my eyes peeled for excellent roadside specimens. Check this one out! It looked like it was on second or third year of vigorous growth and fighting a sumac grove for the sun. About 10’ tall with this single monstrous 16” bloom. I wonder what it will do with full sun and no competition! Replanted the main trunk/roots along my back fence with my other elders. We’ll see!
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There are some pretty remarkable specimens near where I work, it’s definitely a bumper year for them
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Elderberry is one of the favorites of the JB’s in my area
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we dont have j.b here yet but a few other things will nibble but not do much damage on my elders…
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