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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Named Elderberries - no thanks

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  • From: abb7@Lehigh.EDU
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Named Elderberries - no thanks
  • Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:24:08 -0400


Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:29:44 -0500
From: "Jim Fruth" <jimfruth@charter.net>
Subject: [NAFEX] Named Elderberries - no thanks
To: "NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>


Richard Murphy wrote, "Last year the stalks got 4 to 5' tall. This year I expect fruit, and I'll compare it to the traditional Candian stuff I have that already works fine."

I bought the named Elderberries Nova and York. In their second year they were 8' tall and produced copious amounts of fruit. In their third year, they were less tall and produced less fruit. Thereafter they became short (2' to 5') bushes and never fruited again. One by one I'm grubbing them out. Now I plant Sambucus canadensis that I get from the New Hampshire Conservation Department. They are not as compact, not as pretty, don't produce as much fruit as the named varieties did (once) but they are dependable. S. canadensis produces abundantly in full sun and are more than worth their growing space when planted in shade/filtered sunlight.

I have had one Adams and one Johns in my garden for the last 4 years. They kept getting bigger every year, forming these big globes of flowers in the summer. They were taking more space than I wanted them to, so before last growing season I cut them back to about 3 feet tall, but they still got tall enough to sort of splay apart after a wind storm. This past winter I cut them to the ground, so we'll see how big they get this year.

Here are a couple pictures of what they looked like a couple summers ago:

http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s303/alexander3_photos/garden/?action=view&current=elderberry2.jpg

http://s155.photobucket.com/albums/s303/alexander3_photos/garden/?action=view&current=elderberry1.jpg

I did see evidence of borers when I cut them back. It didn't seem to slow them down much, but I suppose a more severe infestation might. Any chance yours had borers?

Alex


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