Guerilla planting Elderberry cuttings

Hello everyone! I posted about this in another thread, but it seemed better to make a new topic for it. I've discovered, thanks to the plant identification geniuses here at permies, that there's a big elderberry bush growing under my deck. I've noticed that many shoots of the bush coming out of the ground go into the deck and don't really get light - they're subsisting on what little light gets through the cracks. Meanwhile a portion of it is sticking out of the deck where it can get sunlight and is doing great.

I've decided that it would be fun to take the shoots that are stuck under the deck as cuttings and plant them around, in wooded areas. Usually, when a city worker chops down a tree around here, they chop it up and throw it into a pile. Those piles currently support a lot poison oak and dewberry brambles, so some diversity is in order! I think these piles of wood provide the perfect environment for my elderberry cuttings to grow. They give shelter from wind, which is very important in this coastal area, and it kind of emulates the shady cool area under the deck that this bush is thriving in.

I already planted 7 cuttings. I dip them in honey solution before planting. I also found some deer droppings while doing this which I added to the soil around them, we'll see if that helps.

I'm not sure if I should wait until fall before taking more. What I've read suggests that cuttings are best taken when the plant is going dormant for the winter, plus there's no rain in a California summer. I'll check on the cuttings I've already planted in a few weeks to see how they're doing. On the other hand, the elderberry bush is wasting energy feeding the branches that grow under the deck, when it should be focusing on the leaves that can get light. So it might be better for the plant if I take the cuttings now. I'm open to any suggestions/ideas!

I hope they take, you can give them a better chance by taking all the leaves off your cuttings, they will find it hard to support those leaves while they have no roots.

Elderberries seem so eager to root, they may be fine.

Like you mentioned, the conditions seem to favor Fall planting with the rainfall factor. The elderberries here like to have good access to water, and I'm guessing it may be similar with your variety also. I've also had pretty much 100% rooting success with dormant hardwood cuttings, but I haven't tried any other ways yet.

From what I've observed, plants seem to put their resources into the most favorable areas, so I would guess that the growth will naturally slow in the section under the deck and increase in the branches in more sunlight, so I don't think it would be an issue.

Good luck! Interested to hear how they turn out for you!

I appreciate the insight, Steve! Time to play the waiting game...

I pulled some elderberry from an undesirable location last year, later in the season than I probably should have transplanted them. They were leggy from being really shaded like yours. I transplanted 5 and 2 grew back this spring (in a climate where they die back over winter.)

So even in the worse conditions, some will make it back!

Now that it's fall, it's finally time to start planting things. The elder plant grew quite well throughout the summer, and is ready to get cut back a whole bunch!

I've already done two rounds of taking cuttings and planting them out. I want to get them in the ground as soon as possible after cutting, so I'm spreading it out to keep it manageable. This also lets me focus on different areas that I know could use some elder!

Something really cool I noticed is that one of the branches from the plant grew into the ground, where it formed roots, and then grew upwards again. This makes me very optimistic about the success rate of planting these cuttings - it clearly forms roots very readily.

I just planted a whole bunch yesterday and now it's dumping rain (first of the season!), so hopefully come spring they'll be thriving.