Black elderberry in the photo and its cultivation

Black elderberry has been known to mankind for a long time. All parts of the plant have healing properties, and earlier magical powers were also attributed to this tree. It was believed that it prolongs life, protects the family hearth, and in general angels live in its branches. Of course, looking at what it looks like black elderberry in the photo, you won’t see angels, but your eyes will be delighted by delicious berries. The plant belongs to the honeysuckle family. His berries edible, unlike red elderberries, they have peculiar taste and not everyone likes them, but jam, jam or marmalade made from them is very tasty.

For black elderberry, you need to choose a sunny place, protected from cold winds, where a lot of snow accumulates in winter. The soil should be fertile, moist, loamy. Elderberry does not grow on dry sandy soils. The tree is fed with organic fertilizers in the first half of summer, but in the second half it does not need to be fertilized, since the fattening shoots do not have time to ripen and freeze slightly in winter. In general, black elderberry is heat-loving and in particularly cold winters it freezes, but in the summer it quickly recovers. The soil around the tree must be constantly loosened. In dry weather, the plant should be watered.

In the spring, before the sap begins to flow, remove dried branches, as well as poorly located or thickening the crown. The harvest is formed on branches two to three years old. The black elderberry in the photo can be a tall tree, up to 8 meters, but it is more convenient to maintain its height at 2-2.5 meters.The berries ripen closer to autumn, in August-September. Elderberry reproduces vegetatively, rooting woody or green cuttings.