I want to make eldeflower wine but am aware just how much the local birds eat/probably rely on elderberries. If you remove flowerheads does it prompt/lead to futher heads being produced? I don't want to deprive the birds :)
Most plants produce more flowers if they are dead-headed... so I would assume so. We've just made our first batch of Elderflower Cordial... :)
You don't have to have many flowers for this - I think it generally is a pint per gallon - so I am sure the birds won't miss these few!
Old Bird
;D
Hullo,
I made about six bottles of the stuff with only twenty flowerheads, and it does taste very strongly of elderflower. Plus elders are pretty tough cut and come again style shrubs. Ours seemed to love being butchered and was always covered in berries by the autumn.
I am fairly short, so only pick the flowers I can reach. There are plenty more higher up, so the birds can have the berries produced by the flowers I cannot reach.
Thanks all:)