Elderberries seem like they should be easy. They’re native, they grow wild in ditches and fence rows. How hard could it be to plant a few improved cultivars and get a crop?
Harder than it looks, as I learned.
I planted nine elderberry bushes across two years—six Pocahontas in 2024 and three Bob Gordon in 2025. The Pocahontas did well. Good growth, actually produced berries in their first year. The Bobs? I lost all three to grass competition. Not disease, not drought, not wildlife damage. Grass. The same grass that grows everywhere on the farm without any help from me decided to express its full competitive potential right where I planted the three Bobs.
Here’s what I learned about elderberries and the negative effects of grass competition.
Why Elderberries Look Like an Easy Crop
The pitch for elderberries is compelling. They’re a native North American plant that’s adapted to a wide range of conditions. They produce berries with documented health benefits—immune support, antioxidants, all the things that drive premium pricing. They start producing in 2-3 years. And unlike tree crops that take a little longer, elderberries fit into a shorter time horizon.
What I Planted: Two Cultivars, Two Different Outcomes
Pocahontas (planted 2024): Six plants, all survived, good growth, produced berries the first year. These went into an area where I managed to keep grass under control reasonably well. Not perfect control, but enough that the elderberries got established.
Bob Gordon (planted 2025): Three plants, probably all lost to grass competition. These went into a row where I didn’t get ahead of the grass, and by the time I realized how bad the competition was, the grass was winning decisively, and I lost this battle in 2025.
The difference wasn’t the cultivar quality. Bob Gordon is a proven, productive variety that’s been selected for commercial production. The difference was weed/grass control. Or rather, my lack of it in the Bob planting row.
The Grass Competition Problem
Elderberries are not slow-growing plants. Under good conditions, they’ll put on significant growth in their first year. But they can’t do that if they’re competing for water, nutrients, and light with established grass.
The grass on our property grows like crazy as soon as nighttime temperatures stay above about 50*F, and you can watch it grow when nighttime temps stay above 60*F. Most farms have this problem—grass is what grows by default in most pasture areas in the Midwest. It’s adapted, it’s competitive, and it doesn’t take a break. When I planted the Bob Gordon elderberries, I didn’t put down weed barrier. I thought I could stay ahead of it with mowing and spot control. I was wrong.
Even though the small row was clean when I stuck the cuttings in the row in late February, the grass grew up around the elderberry plants by late April. Then it grew taller than the elderberry plants. The elderberries were trying to establish roots and put on initial growth while competing with a dense stand of grass that was already established.
Elderberries are particularly sensitive to weed competition during establishment. A wild elderberry bush survives where it is because it has had what it needs to survive, especially when it was young. A mature elderberry clump in a fence row is established, has an extensive root system, and can hold its own. A newly planted elderberry cutting trying to establish roots while sitting in a sea of established grass is a different situation entirely.
What I Should Have Done (And Will Do Next Time)
The solution is obvious in hindsight: weed barrier. Landscape fabric, plastic mulch, heavy organic mulch, something to suppress grass growth in a 3-4 foot radius around each plant. The Pocahontas plants that succeeded had better weed control. The Bob Gordon plants that failed didn’t.
For the planting this year, I put down weed barrier before the plants go in the ground. Not after, not “when I get around to it,” but as part of the planting process. The cost of weed barrier is negligible compared to the cost of replacing dead plants and losing a year of growth.
Options that work:
- Landscape fabric: lay out row of landscape fabric, and only cut slits at the locations where your cuttings go in
- Heavy mulch: 4-6 inches of wood chips or straw in a wide circle around each plant
- Cardboard + mulch: Layer of cardboard covered with mulch, effective for a season or two
- Plastic mulch: Commercial operations often use black plastic, very effective but less aesthetically pleasing
- Herbicides: Glyphosate or similar around the base before the elderberries leaf out, though this requires careful timing and application
The key is to establish a weed-free zone that gives the elderberries a head start. Once they’re established—say, after the second growing season—they can compete better. But in that critical first year, they need help.
The Wildlife Problem: Berries Disappear Fast
Even when you get the elderberries growing successfully, there’s another challenge: harvest timing. Elderberries ripen over a period of several weeks, not all at once. The problem is that birds and other wildlife know when they’re ripe, and they don’t wait for you to get around to harvesting.
My Pocahontas plants produced a small amount of berries in their first year. I watched the berries develop, checked on them regularly, and planned to harvest when they reached full ripeness. What I didn’t account for was how quickly the wildlife would strip the bushes once the berries were ripe. In our case, I saw the berries were nearing ripeness, and then the following weekend, they were all gone.
This is a known issue with elderberries, but it’s one thing to read about it and another to watch birds systematically harvest your crop before you can. The solutions are limited:
- Net the bushes: Effective but labor-intensive, especially if you have multiple plants
- Plant more than you need: Assume you’ll lose a significant percentage to wildlife
- Harvest frequently: Check daily during ripening season and pick what’s ready
None of these are perfect solutions. You end up accepting that wildlife will take their share, and you harvest what’s left. We increased our number of cuttings planted this year, and may try a netting experiment this year.
Varieties
I planted two recommended commercial varieties: Pocahontas and Bob Gordon. Both are selections from wild native elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) that have been bred for larger berry clusters, higher yields, and more concentrated ripening.
Pocahontas: Earlier ripening, slightly smaller clusters, good flavor. In my experience, vigorous growth once established.
Bob Gordon: Later ripening, large clusters, high yields in mature plants. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to performance yet since last years didn’t make it past the grass competition stage. However, I did get 15 more cuttings this winter, and stuck them in their row in mid-February.
Other common varieties include:
- Adams: One of the oldest commercial varieties, reliable but lower yields than newer selections, medium berries
- York: Popular for commercial production, very large clusters, large berries
- Wyldewood: medium to large berries, productive
The variety matters less than you’d think for small-scale production. All of these improved cultivars will significantly outproduce wild elderberries. The real limiting factors are establishment (weed control) and harvest management (wildlife).
Economics: Is It Worth It?
This depends entirely on what you’re selling and how you’re selling it. Wholesale elderberry prices are not impressive—you’re looking at $0.50-$1.00 per pound for fresh berries, maybe slightly more if you have a reliable buyer. At those prices, elderberries are not going to make you rich.
Where elderberries can work economically is value-added products and direct sales:
- Elderberry syrup: Retail prices of $10-20 per bottle, costs maybe $3-5 to produce
- Fresh berries: $2-4 per pound
- Jam or jelly: $6-10 per jar
- U-pick: $1-2 per pound, minimal harvest labor on your part
- Farmers market fresh: $2-4 per pound
But all of these require marketing effort, processing time, or retail infrastructure. If you’re just growing elderberries and hoping to sell them wholesale, the economics are marginal. If you’re willing to do value-added processing or direct marketing, they can be profitable on a small scale.
The other consideration is harvest labor. Elderberries need to be harvested by hand, cluster by cluster. A mature bush might produce 10-25 pounds of berries. If you have 20 bushes, that’s 200-400 pounds of berries that need picking. Unlike grain crops or hay where you can harvest acres in a day, elderberries are labor-intensive at harvest time.
The Disease Reality: Not Too Bad
Elderberries have relatively few serious disease problems. A few mites and beetles may cause problems, but for us at this time, we are going to monitor for these pests. We haven’t sprayed our elderberries with any herbicides yet.
So Should You Plant Elderberries?
Elderberries can work in a diversified agroforestry or small farm system, but they’re not very low-maintenance. Here’s my honest assessment:
Plant elderberries if:
- You’re willing to do proper weed control from day one
- You have a plan for harvest and marketing (value-added products, farmers markets, etc.)
- You can commit to checking and harvesting regularly during ripening season
Don’t plant elderberries if:
- You’re expecting them to be as low-maintenance as wild elderberries appear to be
- You’re not prepared to invest in weed control materials and labor
- You don’t have a clear market or use for the berries
- You’re hoping for a hands-off crop that you can ignore until harvest
The wild elderberries you see thriving in fence rows and ditches are misleading. They’re succeeding in ecological niches where competition has already been reduced. When you plant elderberries into established grass or weedy areas, you’re asking them to do something they’re not adapted for: outcompeting aggressive vegetation from a disadvantaged starting position.
Give them the weed control they need during establishment, manage harvest expectations around wildlife, and be realistic about the labor involved in picking and processing. Do those things, and elderberries can be a productive part of a diversified farm. Skip those steps, and you’ll be like me—looking at dead or dying plants and realizing that grass is a more formidable competitor than it appears.
What I’m Doing Next
We’re still planting elderberries, but approaching the planting differently. Weed barrier is going down before plants go in. I’m considering netting for the Pocahontas plants that are already producing. And I’m accepting that some percentage of the berries will go to wildlife—that’s part of the deal with elderberries.
Elderberries are a worthwhile crop for the right situation. Just make sure you’re creating the right situation, not assuming the plants will create it for themselves.
Affiliate Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I use or would use on my own farm. Read my full disclosure policy.