Blue elderberry management

I searched around but didn’t find much information on blue elderberry management. It’s a pretty large bush and I was hoping I could coppice it every winter and still have it fruit in the summer. Last year it put on like 15ft of growth. It’s a very strong plant. If it does that again it’ll be out of reach for me. Anyone have tips for keeping it contained?

I’m still wondering if I should cut 2 of the 4 stems and see what happens

What I would do is mentally divide it into two halves, and take turns each year cutting one half back severely (basically what you are doing). I would give it lots of compost to make up for the loss. With time you might be able to prune it to a more compact form. If you do any cutting in the summer, the green new growth can be rooted, I'm told, to make new plants (which are very, very in demand right now for selling and trade).

They can get to 30 feet in some cases.

If you're looking for a more manageable shrub black elderberry tops out quite a bit smaller

Interesting. I didn’t know they were in such demand. My daughter has been selling things with a little stand at the end of the driveway and people are buying a lot more than I would’ve expected 😅

I grow the black, Johns and Adams varieties in a crowded area.
I take them off at ground level every year then they grow up to 6 or 8 feet and produce a crop.
not sure about blue types but they sure take well to cutting back.

Well I took the plunge and cut 2 of the 4 stems almost to the ground. I then cut them up into sections and put ~60 cuttings in a nursery area. We’ll see which ones do well. I have a mix of pretty thick hardwood cuttings and flimsy growth from last year. I have no idea which ones will take so it’ll be fun to find out.