Friday, March 20, 2009

Mexican Elder Tree Care


Mexican Elder Tree (Sambucus mexicana)

You see these trees all around Las Cruces and Southern New Mexico. (Although they do grow in California, Arizona, Texas and the rest of the Southern states).They have bright green foliage early in spring, followed by small clusters of fragrant creamy off white flowers. They have gnarly bark and may look like a large bonsai.
These interesting looking trees provide quick shade and food for birds. They seem to look their best in the cooler months of the year especially when young.

These trees are easily trained into multi or single trunk specimen. You can prune at anytime of year to help keep it's desired shape. It is actually best to prune regularly to avoid cutting back large limbs. They can become quite dense so proper thining may also be neccessary.

They are susceptible to aphids, borers, and powdery mildew. You can prevent the insects with a systemic soil drench or insect spray labelled for aphids. You can treat the powdery mildew with an all purpose fungicide. Powdery mildew will usually occur if the tree has some shade or if there is a long period of very humid or rainy weather. (We should be so lucky.) The bark is quite "pulpy" and will absorb water. With this in mind it is best not to sprinkle or wet the bark so make sure your sprinking system does not hit the bark with its spray. If this happens the bark may begin to swell and peel off the tree.

Mexican Elder trees go "dormant" during the heat of the summer. This is when they look their worst. Feeding them late in spring or early summer is crucial to minimizing the effects of it's "summer dormancy". Don't give up, if they don't look quite healthy. The first few years this is normal, and the tree will look great upon the return of cooler weather. As they mature the trees seem to take the summer heat better.

Although these trees can produce quite a bit of litter, leaves, flower petals, and berries throughout the year, it's quick shade production and beauty make up for it.

Mexican Elder Tree Photo

Gary Guzman

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:59 AM

    Not a comment - have a question
    Someone said that the Mexican Elder leaves are toxic to horses. Is this true?
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:37 AM

    where can I buy the mexican elder tres?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:49 AM

    HELLO PAUL:
    I AM A MAIL CARRIER HERE IN EL PASO TEXAS, IN MY ROUTES I SEE LOTS OF MEXICAN ELDERS, AND THEY DO QUITE WELL AND IF THEY ARE CUT PROPERLY THEY LOOK BEAUTIFUL. IN MY HALF ACRE OF LAND WE HAVE LOTS OF PINE TREES AND FROM ONE MEXICAN ELDER WE HAVE FOUR. IN LESS THAN FIVE YEARS THEY ARE ABOUT FIFTEEN FEET TALL BUT ONE. AND IT HAS MAINTAINED SIX FEET TALL ALL THIS TIME, AND I WAS WANDERING IF IT MIGHT HAVE DECEASE OF SOME KIND IT ALSO HAPPENED TO OUT PURPLE PLUM TREES THEY WERE ABOUT TEN YEARS OLD BUT NEVER GREW. WHEN WE TRIED TO TRANSPLANT THE PURPLE PLUM TO A DIFFERENT LOCATION THEY HAD SOME KIND OF WHITE INSECT, AND THEY WHERE HOLLOW INSIDE AND ALL THIS YEARS WE NEVER NEW, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS MEXICAN ELDER, WHAT DO YOU ADVISE?

    THANK YOU
    SUSANNA

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:09 PM

    i have several of these trees that are over 25 years old. dont give up on them when they are infected by bugs, just cut off the part of the tree that has bugs. dont over water in the summer. break off the dead branches as a pruning idea.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous5:40 PM

    Not sure if anyone else has had this problem but I think the cold winter has done a lot of damage to my 2 Mexican elders. There are a lot of dead branches. Almost the whole tree for both of them. There is green at the bottom but the larger branches that give the trees their shape are gone. Should I trim them completely back to where the green leaves are? How long before it grows again? I am so sad they were pretty trees now will just be stumps!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4:00 PM

    I have 3 mexican elder trees and they are so dry not green at all is there anything i can do to help them they look dead

    ReplyDelete