How to treat mulberry tree?

hallo,
hot summers, cold winters:: mulberry tree 3m tall, looking happy, no idea how old but suspect quite young, not yet fruited (white fruit) properly.
It has four branches, all growing upwards --- can i train three of them to be horizontal? Would it affect its fruiting? I know plum likes horizontal branches, does mulberry?
thanks, karaman

 

Hi @karaman I have a black mulberry which is only about 2 m tall, but started fruiting last year. I would think anything you could do to make the fruit easier to detect would be a help, and horizontal wired branches might make finding them easier I find that I have to hunt around to find the fruit - not sure it was a good idea to grow it - the ratio of faff to fruit is rather high.

 

Not talking mulberry as such, more fruit in general.
Fruiting usually occurs on horizontal branches earlier than on vertical ones.

By pulling branches into a horizontal position you take out the growth vigour and then the plant tends to fruit earlier.

I've never actually seen a white mulberry, I dont think they are that common over here, black mulberry can get to a fair sized tree.

I'm just wondering now if it is possible to get mulberry on dwarfing rootstocks

You could just get some silk worms

 

Hi @karaman, yes, @pete is of course right as usual re the horizontal branches encouraging fruiting, though I found the black mulberry was happy enough to fruit. I know from some Iranian friends that they have different white mulberry varieties over there with large fruit. I have eaten some dried white mulberries but not much taste in that format. What do they taste like fresh?

 

thanks for replies - caroline L: am in hungary, southern shores of lake balaton so climate is hotter than in uk and i've seen lots of mulberries with white fruit over here thats why i thought i'd try it: not in UK, too cold for the poor thing
pete: ok i will make branches go horizontal; it will also make it easier to use a ladder when tree gets mature enough although i probably wont see that, pity. too late to think about dwarfing rootstock, i've gone and bought and planted it already! silly me should have thought of that before as the white one gets rather big also but there is lots of room for it here.

thanks for replies, much appreciated --- karaman

 

Just a bit of info from a local nursery here.
Kind of says it all regarding why we dont see the white one in the UK much.
You need to scroll down past the figs
Fig and Mulberry trees for sale | Buy fruit trees online

 

sorry caroline L didnt answer your question: the white fruit are only about 1cm/1.5cm so not very big and taste sweet as honey when ripe and straight off the tree. yum, yum. karaman

 

Hi karaman, pete - that explains why we only grow the black one! I saw something on TV recently about Tiptree jams, who still grow black mulberries. They claimed that the messy problem of picking the fruit gave rise to the expression 'caught red-handed'. At least the white one will not cause such a problem!

 

hallo all,
just an update on my white mulberry -- lots of fruit this year (2019 june) as sweet as honey probably as the weather was warm in june here in hungary - horizontal branches do fruit much better than vertical ones -- will attempt to propagate by cuttings and take back to uk (nothing ventured nothing gained) -- it cost £15 and is one of the best buys i ever made!

 

Hi @karaman - yum, sounds good! I'd say give it a try in UK, particularly if you have a warm wall to grow it against.

 

Mulberries....yummy. The last MOD establishment I workd at, had a very old black mulberry tree in the grounds. During WW2 it was severely damage by fire and the core of the trunk was burned out, leaving just a shell. The fruits were massive and so so plentiful. I have only ever seen mulberries for sale, as fruits just once.

I frequent the farm shop at Polhill GS where I buy a supply of Tiptree mulberry jam. It's pricey at a fiver a jar, and the jars are not the usual size but smaller. I have also bought, Thurstons mulberry jam. Cheaper but far too runny and has remains of berries plus storks.

J.Parkers and Suttons are selling dwarf trees. Mulberies are easy to propogate.

Growing mulberries and other fruits as cordons was very popular and perhaps may have started in the Victorian or Edwardian gardens. In those days, most of, 'The gardens' were owned by the gentry and it might be said that within these gardens, one could always find..the walled garden. The advantages of cordon growing is far less ground space is taken up. In addition, if you are a grower of fruit trees, you can easily see that the fruit production and the resulting ripening etc become something of hit and miss. Fruit developing in various parts of the tree can become starved of sunlight, be tossed and turned by the wind and many other problems. Whereas the cordons are spread out, secured and the fruit/fruits have an equal chance of getting the best from the sun etc.

OK a nice wall is perhaps desireable but NOT the be all and end all. A well constructed trellis will afford much the same benefits, not forgetting strong wires stretched between well secured posts can provide the same home. Hope this helps. Enjoy your gardening.

 

hallo all,
yes luckily have a warm south-facing wall to create a cordon against and yes i will try to propagate it - i take it i just stick a twig in the ground in autumn and see what has/has not happened when i return in spring. cheers, karaman