01 Oct Mon 2018
Ask Arlene about Autumn Olive©
Ask Arlene about Autumn Olive©
By Arlene Wright-Correll
Autumn olive is a deciduous shrub that can grow as tall as 20 feet. It’s cream to pale yellow flowers bloom in early spring and bring on an abundance of pink to red berries dotted with scales. The leaves of the plant are elliptically shaped with a slightly wavy margin. It is distinguished from other similar shrubs by the silvery scales found on the lower leaf surface. Although beautiful and fragrant, autumn olive’s aggressive proliferation negatively affects natural areas throughout Indiana. It is really invasive and although it is not illegal to sell or buy autumn olive in Indiana, it is recommended that Hoosiers do not sell, buy or plant autumn olive, and to remove the invasive from your property. Remember - cutting and burning alone will not get rid of autumn olive, but will only create more.
Originally a native plant of China, Japan and Korea and it made its way to the United States in 1830. In the 1950s it was widely promoted as a great way to provide wildlife habitat and erosion control in environmentally disturbed areas. While it did make available habitat and food for wildlife, it soon became a really major problem as autumn olive began to rapidly spread throughout the state.
Attempts to remove the shrub by cutting and/or burning created even more autumn olive and only made matters worse because it out-competes and displaces native plants by creating a dense shade that hinders the growth of plants that need lots of sun.
It can produce up to 200,000 seeds each year, and can spread over a variety of habitats as its nitrogen-fixing root nodules allows the plant to grow in even the most unfavorable soils. Not to mention that it reproduces quickly and with little effort at all.
Even though you may attempt to remove autumn olive by cutting or burning from your property you can cause unwanted spreading as the shrub germinates easily.
Birds are quite attracted to the seeds and will scatter them throughout pastures, along roadsides and near fences and these include song- birds such as thrushes, cardinals, cedar waxwings, evening grosbeaks, sparrows, bobwhite, ruffed grouse, ring-necked pheasants, wild turkeys, and mallards.
Mammals including raccoons, skunks, opossums, and even black bears will eat it also.
Goats and sheep will eat autumn olive readily and effectively control repeated heavy defoliation in spring and early summer; although goats can clear brush in a single season, multiple years are needed to actually kill the shrubs.
Scientific Name: Elaeagnus umbellata
Type: deciduous, either shrub or tree
Size: up to 20 feet tall & 30 feet wide
Stems: silvery or golden brown; speckled; often with thorns
Leaves: grayish green with silvery scales on bottom side; has a shimmery look to it
Flowers: in clusters; bell-shaped, cream to light yellow petals; fragrant; bloom in April -June
Fruits: fleshy, silvery with brown scales to a speckled red when matured; edible to both animals and humans
Reproduction: by seed or propagation by stump sprouting and/or roots
Habitat: forests edges, meadows, open woods, pastures, riverbanks, roadsides, streams and disturbed areas
Impacts: invasive specie; increases nitrogen levels in soil; possibly beneficial to black walnut
Similar Native Species: Silver-berry; however, not native to Indiana
On the good side until recently, few people were aware that the berries of autumn olive, Elaeagnus umbellata, are edible. But the secret is out. More and more are harvesting these tasty fruits for both sweet and savory dishes such as jam, pies, breads and even wine.
AUTUMN OLIVE WINE
4-5 pounds autumn olive fruit
2 lbs granulated sugar
1? tsp yeast nutrient
? tsp tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 tsp pectic enzyme.
3 qts water
Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) wine yeast
Put 2 qts water on to boil. Meanwhile, wash and cull fruit for soundness. Put fruit in nylon straining bag, tie closed, and place in primary container. Bruise fruit by squashing with hands or a piece of hardwood, being careful not to crack seed. Pour boiling water over fruit and cover primary.
Combine remaining water with sugar and stir until dissolved--may heat the water to aid in dissolving sugar. Add sugar-water to primary, replace cover and set aside to cool. When room temperature, stir in tannin, yeast nutrient and crushed Campden.
Replace cover and set aside for 12 hours. Stir in pectic enzyme and again cover primary and set aside. After 12 hours, add activated yeast and again cover the primary. Stir twice daily until s.g. drops to 1.015 (1-2 weeks).
Remove nylon straining bag, squeezing well to extract juice. Allow to settle and rack to secondary and fit airlock. Wait 30 days, then rack, top up and refit airlock. Repeat when wine clears. Allow another 60 days under airlock. Stabilize, sweeten to taste if desired, wait 10 days, and rack into bottles.
Age six months before tasting and also you will find it improves with age.
Health Benefits of Autumn Olive. The most common fact you will read about autumn olive is that it contains 5 to 15 times more antioxidant lycopene than in tomatoes. But besides lycopene autumn berries is also a source of vitamin C (around 28mg/100g), as well as other vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals.
Medicinal use of Autumn Olive:
The flowers are astringent, cardiac and stimulant. The seeds are used as a stimulant in the treatment of coughs. The expressed oil from the seeds is used in the treatment of pulmonary affections. The fruit of many members of this genus is a very rich source of vitamins and minerals, especially in vitamins A, C and E, flavonoids and other bio-active compounds. It is also a fairly good source of essential fatty acids, which is fairly unusual for a fruit. It is being investigated as a food that is capable of reducing the incidence of cancer and also as a means of halting or reversing the growth of cancers.
There does not seem to be any health habits of Autumn Olive.
We do not offer it in any form at Home Farm Herbery simply because of it’s invasiveness.
May the Creative Force be with you!
Arlene Wright-Correll