So we spent a number of hours moving those baby Elderberry’s out of the bed they were in, and we had enough to do more then just one back row of them in hedge space, we have enough to do up the whole side of a garden area as well.

The first thing we learned is that they were NOT from seeds afterall, that every single one of them were in fact connected to one of the adult elder’s by thin little roots (you can see we carefully dug out the new rooting and then cut off the root leaving about 4 inches), they had really travels a good distance as they were in among the lily’s and cedars, not around the adult elder’s themselves.

Now according to the ontario planting guide, for a max production, you should give them ten feet between, but I want a hedge row effect, so I went 6 feet apart instead, I have tried both spacings and to be honest with I don’t see much difference in how they produce, I will admit that with the six foot spacing you can’t walk all the way around the bush, they certainly do meet in the middle but o do they produce like mad when they are that close.

Now, I have read this on other sites and I am going to back them, Elder’s don’t like to dry out at all! between plantings, I highly recommend digging out only what you are moving one at a time so that they get as little chance as possable to dry out before going in to their new home, they tend to wilt, and look very sad, don’t worry they will perk up, or they will die right off, but don’t panic, I have had this happen a number of times, every single time, the roots themselves will shortly send up new starts.

Now I am only speaking for my wild transplanted ElderBerry Bushes, but these guys grow like mad, they can easily grow ten feet in a single season in my climate and soil, they will produce to the point that they will break their own limbs with the weight of the fruit if left alone, I will do a post later in the season to show you how I select how to take out the elder flowers, along with some recipes on how to use them, so that you can help remove some as needed so this won’t happen.

So far we have moved 40 bushes which equal’s 120 foot row so far. We still have at least another ten to move, but it will be up front in the soft fruit rows up by the hard fruit orchard. In total we now have 140 foot of new Elderberry Hedge planted rows

One of the things I am most looking forward to, is having enough Elderflowers to wrap more apples in the dried flowers for keeping in the fall.. the flavor it gives them is heavenly.