Elderberry Plant Collection

Thank you for your question. Our bare root elderberry plants have a shipping expectation of approximately 12" tall.

In my experience, I've gotten around 3-4 lbs per plant (on average). It varies on the maturity of the plant, the health, and the approach to pruning. Yield increases as healthy plants mature. I've seen some folks say they get up to 12-15 lbs of elderberries per mature plant – that's a lot of elderberries!

Under optimal conditions a tall bush. Mine is appr. 6 feet tall,
unpruned.

We live in Zone 7 in the Intermountain West. It has recently been down to 25 degrees as spring comes on, and we have had some heavy frosts. The elderberry bushes are continuing to leaf out and seem unaffected. They are very tolerant of both hot and cold weather. I planted mine last spring about this time and they have been doing very well. We had some berries from the little plants last year, and expect a much bigger harvest this year. I steamed the juice, and made it into jelly and "medicinal" syrup. We have been drinking the syrup every day to boost our immune systems during flu and COVID-19 season. Stay well!

Minimally, in fact it is often advised to remove blossoms first year so energy goes into plant establishment. In my experience The second year you can expect 1/3 the mature crop and 2nd year 2/3. By year 3 you should get full crop. Ensure establishing plants get plenty of moisture (supplemental water and/or mulch with organic material).

They do naturalize and form colonies (free plants!(. You can trim the new shoots at ground level if you want to contain the growth.

They absolutely need full sun. And if you purchase several plants, don't put them too close as they will get much larger as they age. Once they bear fruit, just put a small net over them or the silver thread tape to keep birds or rabbits oof of them.

I bought a collection that included the Adams and York varieties. So two. Im not sure if Stark offers a three plant collection but Its good to have two varieties for pollination so thats why its good to have at least two that are shown to pollinate each other. You’d need to check their website if they offer different collections.

Elderberry plants will likely produce some flowers and resulting fruit the first year. The second year will be better and the third will have a prolific crop if growing conditions are ideal. My plants are located in a field which is a bit dry. I have watered them religiously, but wish I had another wetter spot available.

We appreciate you reaching out to us. You can find the years-to-bear information in the Characteristics section, near the top of the page, underneath the description. This plant takes 2-3 years to bear.

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to reach back out to us. Have a great day!