RE: The unset jelly (nice syrup though?) Well I happened to speak to my Mother in law and she explained to me that sure-jell and regular fruit pectin should not be used interchangeably- which is why the sure-jell recipe only needed 4 1/2 cups sugar per 3 cups juice and the pectin recipe called for 7 cups sugar/3 cups juice. Needless to say I did not have sure-jell but will definately have it next time. The recipe I used did contain 1/2 cup lemon juice though. The only possible problems I can think of is 1. I thought I had 6-8qt pot (the biggest dutch oven type that comes in kitchen sets?) and the recipe said add pectin and boil hard one minute, stirring constantly. The only problem? Every time it boiled hard it boiled ALL OVER (still getting it out of my burners!) So I was letting it get boiling good at just at the point of going over, picking it up off stove for a second or two. 2.I was also unsure how to keep jars hot enough as I don't own dishwasher so I put them in oven in a pan with a couple inches of water in the bottom of it- set it to 200° but when I took the jars out there was condensation in them so they weren't "dry"- does this factor in at all or is that ok? I couldn't think of any way to dry them fast enough to pour jelly in without getting burned or having it cool too fast.

You are in a much warmer zone than I am, but in my garden, the red elderberry (Sambucus pubens /aka S. racemosa) blooms decidedly earlier than the American elderberry (S. canadensis), which has dark, purplish-red berries and is used for jam. I grow the former one for the birds. Are you referring to S. caerulea when you say "blue elderberry" or S. canadensis? We don't grow caerulea here.

You know I have only one American type, and it doesn't do well, go figure? Who the heck knows?? I'll tell you all I can. It is between houses so it only receives about half a day, maybe slightly more of sun. In ground, we have a clay loam with a pH of about 6.5. It is very nice soil. Every spring I put bagged composted manure around it. I put a small amount of Dynamite control release fertilizer. And once a month use an organic. Usually Holly-Tone. I fertilize my grass with Milorganite, so it probably takes that up too. It is now approved for garden use, but I only use it on my grass. I grow over 20 different fruits and veggies. Not worried if some gets in the garden. I mulch with leaves or straw, but often I scatter it with the lawn mower. It needs more right now. I should clear more of the grass around the plants. If I left the 2nd year canes I could probably get a bigger yield. But I'm good with the 5 pounds or so I get. Going back to the subject of this thread, the thought came to me that maybe in Florida it's nematodes, as the state is notorious for having them. The kind you don't want. Maybe that was covered already? I heard tomatoes are hard to grow there because of the nematodes, and maybe elderberries are susceptible to them? I don't know? Some plants are not. I cannot grow blueberries in my soil. The west side of the state is all sand and that is where the pH is low and they grow them. I'm on the east side. I do grow blueberries but in containers, and raised beds filled with pine bark and peat. I use sulfuric acid to lower pH of tap water, but usually use rainwater (pH of 4.7) for my blueberries. I have 10 plants. Most of the other elderberries I grow are ornamental. I grow a variegated euro, Black Lace, and Black Beauty. All do very well here in ground.

Again its peaking here in SE Ohio, in case anyone is interested.