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Elderberry Farming Ideas

When you are looking for something beneficial, try planting Elderberry plant and you will surely get many great things from it. As you read the entire article, you will learn important matters about elderberry farming.

Elderberries bring many health benefits for you. Elderberry planting is easy. You just have to follow some process to let it grow healthy.

An elderberry plant produces bluish black fruit in bunches and its fruits are used making juices, jellies, jam, and wines. The berries are quite bitter so they are rarely eaten. But you should be aware of its health benefits. Elderberries are helpful in lowering health cholesterol, immune function and help fight cold and flu. So if you want to have elderberry plants, then you first have to know the right process.

Planting and Fertilizing

Elderberries can tolerate the wide range of fertility, acidity and texture of the soil but they grow best in a most, fertile and well-drained soil with pH level between 5.5 and 6.5. They never tolerate a poor drainage. Keep them watered during the first season and the space of the plants must be 6 to 10 feet apart. You have to fertilize them well. Apply additional fertilizer in early spring and incorporate a compost or manure before planting.

Weed Control and Harvest

When weeds grow around your elderberry plants, never cultivate it deeper than 2 inches because they have shallow roots. Weed control is the biggest problem faced in growing elderberries. Do not disturb the soil after a year because even the slightest injury damages the root system or it may kill some of the upright shoots. By the time you produced a thick hedgerow of the plant, the elderberry plants can now at least suppress the weeds. The fruit can be harvested in late August through early September and it depends on the cultivars. The entire cluster should be eliminated when it is ripe.

Pruning and Choosing Cultivars

Every year, elderberries send many new canes wherein it usually reach the full height in a season and develop lateral branches every second. Canes in the second year with good development of lateral are more fruitful. The next third or fourth year makes the older wood become weak and lose vigor. Its flowers are white, small but with large cluster compounds. They’re self-unfruitful so you have to plant two different cultivars within 60 ft. of one another for adequate cross-pollination.

Diseases and Insects

The elderberries are good for landscape planting because they are generally free of pests. But the powdery mildew is a common problem in some years especially when the fruit is affected. There are some instances that cane borers can cause damage but cannot actually be found in large numbers. The best remedy is pruning out the infested canes especially for the home gardeners.

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