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Elder tree

Gay3Gay3 Posts: 12
in Problem solving
We have an elder tree which is suffering! Two years ago the flowers were very small and I had to pick twice as many to make elderflower cordial, then last year a lot of the smaller twigs began to die off. This year although it is still alive and producing some leaves a lot of the twigs and even some of the bigger branches are obviously dead (see photo). The tree is throwing out a lot of water shoots (?) from the base (see photo). We live on a country estate and the estate gardener thought it might have a fungus attacking the roots and said he would treat it (which he hasn't!), but he did remove some of the branches to allow more circulation of air. Is the tree dying? Should we remove the obvious dead parts? We would hate to lose the tree as it not only provides shade for our patio but also helps to screen a large power distribution H-pole situated just beyond the end of our garden! Any suggestions/advice gratefully received. Thank you.

Posts

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Do you know how old it is?  I can't find the reference now, but I think I've read that elder is short-lived as trees go, 20-30 years I believe is typical.  So, might your tree simply be nearing the end of its life?  Why not sow some of this year's berries in pots, so if you lose it, you can replace it with its offspring.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I agree with @josusa47 ... they don’t last long ... but on the other hand they don’t take long to grow grow either. 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Gay3Gay3 Posts: 12
    Thank you for coming back to me.  I'm afraid I have no idea how old the tree is.  We've only been here 4 years, but it's obviously a well-established mature tree. I don't think sowing the berries would solve our problem as we're well into our 70s and it's unlikely we would live long enough to benefit from it screening the H-pole!!! Many thanks anyway.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    You could probably take cuttings from the suckers if you don't want to wait for this year's berries (if it's not grafted, and as far as I know grafting isn't normal for elders, they grow so easily they don't need it). If it's anything like the ornamental elders it should root easily.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    They’re not expensive to buy ... get one or two this winter and with any luck they’ll be growing well before the old tree is over. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Gay3Gay3 Posts: 12
    Thank you, I might try that.  At least it will be a bit quicker than growing it from seed! There is no sign that it's been grafted.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    It looks pretty healthy to me. I got a tree surgeon over to look at my elder tree as the bark was getting spongey and branches were dying off. He said elders get dead branches and twigs - it's what they do - bits fall off and new bits grow. I would just keep an eye, check that if it falls in high wind, it's not going to squash anything important. Buzz off dead branches.

    Longer, hotter summers are playing merry hell with some trees. We've had a load of cherry trees die in our local park as the ground just got too dry in recent years.
  • Gay3Gay3 Posts: 12
    Thank you for your comments.  Maybe it is the weather we've had, but the elder certainly didn't have so many dead bits four years ago and it had loads of big flowers which it hasn't had for a couple of years now.  Anyway thank you - perhaps we'll just cut off the dead bits and see how it goes.
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