elder

Content

• elder
• Plant elderberry properly
• care Tips
• Which location is suitable?
• The right planting distance
• Which soil does the plant need?
• When is flowering time?
• Cut elderberry properly
• Water elder
• Fertilize elderberry properly
• Elderberry multiply
• Is elderberry poisonous?
• Is red elderberry edible?

The beautiful berries of red elder are not edible raw

elder

With wild charm, discreet flowering and bright red berry decoration, red elderberry acts as a reliable screen, impressive solitaire and decorative filler. Do you still have unsolved questions about professional cultivation? Then discover here pase answers with hand and foot.

Plant elderberry properly

Autumn time is planting time for red elder. Choose a sunny to partially shaded spot where the shrub will find a rich, well-drained and fresh to moderately dry soil. Before tackling the soil preparation, place the potted young plant with the root ball in a bucket of water. Then loosen up the soil thoroughly to incorporate a generous portion of compost, bark humus or leaf loam. This is how the planting process continues:

A mulch layer of autumn leaves or bark mulch has a beneficial effect on the rooting. In order for the shrub to grow magnificently in a group or as a hedge, place the next pits at a distance of 100-150 cm.
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care Tips

So that the wild ornamental shrub fulfills the expectations, the following care program is used:

In the weeks and months after planting a sufficient water supply is essential for a vital rooting. While an adult shrub tolerates short-term dryness, a young red elderberry should not dry out.
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Which location is suitable?

In the wild, the decorative white flowers and bright red berries can be seen in sparse alluvial forests. The shrub likes to associate with deciduous trees or seek a place in the mixed forest. This results in the choice of location in the home garden these criteria:

Compared to the acidity value, red elderberry is tolerant. The shrub likes to extend its mighty roots in slightly acidic, neutral to slightly alkaline soil.
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The right planting distance

In view of its majestic habit and the extensive root system, we recommend a planting distance of at least 100-150 cm. If you place the mighty shrub close to buildings, the distance to the walls should be 200-250 cm.
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Which soil does the plant need?

The broad-based location amplitude of a red elder does not only find expression in the frugal claims to the earth. Basically, the shrub thrives in every normal garden soil. In order to elicit its beauty from the best, the soil should be loosely humic, nutrient-rich and fresh-moist to moderately-dry structured. A neutral to alkaline pH is perfectly fine, especially as the grape holly knows how to appreciate a little lime.
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When is flowering time?

The cream-colored flowers appear in April and attract pollinators until May. Unfortunately, in terms of fragrance, Red Elderberry can not hold its big brother, the Black Elderberry. In fact, it's just the slightly unpleasant smell that the insects fly on. At first glance, the many-flowered umbrella panicles are not to be regarded as the result of the furious, bright red fruit decorations developing in the fall.
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Cut elderberry properly

Cut a red elderberry between October and March when the shrub grows over your head. During the foliage-free period, a radical pruning is best coped with. Walk with a pruning shears or saw and shorten too long shoots up to 50 cm. Since the wild wood always blooms on the previous year's wood, falls out in this case, the bloom. In order to cut the ornamental shrub a little bit in shape, we therefore recommend an appointment immediately after flowering or in autumn after harvest. Put the scissors just above an outward, sleeping eye. A sleeping eye can be recognized as a slight elevation under the bark. In addition, clear the bush thoroughly in early spring by cutting off all deadwood at the base.
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Water elder

As a shallow root shrub, the shrub quickly becomes drought-prone in summer, when the rain stops. Therefore, pour dry when dry. It is an advantage to run the garden hose once or twice a week for 10 minutes. If you only give a little water every day, the already flat rooting decreases even further.
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Fertilize elderberry properly

Red elder is not a food lover. The shrub lays great value on regular nutrient supply. So fertilize every 14 days from March to August with compost, horn shavings, bark humus or Pflanzenjauchen. If this effort is too great, administer a long-term fertilizer in March and June.
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Elderberry multiply

To breed more specimens of the Red Holunder, you have the choice among the following methods of propagation:

Before you sow the seeds, they go through a stratification. As a cold germ, the seeds linger for 6-8 weeks in a bag of wet sand at + 4 to - 4 degrees Celsius in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.
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Is elderberry poisonous?

Red elderberry contains poisonous sambunigrin in all plant parts. This toxin causes nausea, vomiting and respiratory distress in humans and animals. Warn your children therefore before eating the red berries. Dogs, cats, rabbits or guinea pigs should not be fed on the leaves, flowers or berries because they will die in the worst case. The poison dissolves at temperatures above 80 degrees Celsius, so that the berries are suitable for the production of jam, jelly or syrup. However, this is not true for the seeds that preserve their poison content. Therefore, use the fruits only after careful juicing.
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Is red elderberry edible?

The red berries are not suitable for fresh consumption. The contained sambunigrin triggers severe symptoms of intoxication. Only after the fruits have been heated to more than 80 degrees Celsius, the toxin dissolves. The seeds defy any attempt to decompose the toxic ingredient. Edible is red elderberry exclusively at a juicing. Prepared as a refreshing jam or aromatic syrup, the red elderberries can be used in households.
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