Hi Livinginawe,
did the seeds finally sprout?
I am getting a little worried. Mine are in the soil now for exactly 1 month. Out of 48 seeds only 1 sprouted. That was 2 days ago, so I hope I just have to wait a little longer. I didn’t use bottom heat, maybe that is a factor too.
If yours did finally sprout that would ease my mind a bit.
Yes…I have had about a dozen sprout so far, but only five healthy plants. Even though I stratified the seeds for three months they still seemed to want the varying cool/hot cycles of spring to sprout, as it took about a month before I had the first one sprout. Nearly two months later a dozen have sprouted…one more just yesterday…so be patient. I didn’t use bottom heat or anything, just have the pots in my greenhouse that is usually left opened up and exposed.
Thank you, thats encouraging. My trays are still indoors. I will move them outside (into my greenhouse) next week since we finally start to get warmer temperatures more consistently.
My nigra seedlings had survived outdoor this winter (most of them):
Even this one - about one inch high!
The dead one:
Very nice,
from the first batch of seeds started (at least trying to) in march only 2 sprouted until now. Both withered and dried back after some days. Those young seedlings seem to be very fragile. Are there any recommended measures to keep the little seedlings alive?
That’s good news. What was your lowest winter temperature.
They are very delicate. I would avoid exposing them to rain or direct sun. Rain will smother them. You will always end up losing some, no matter what. For a plant capable of living several hundred years, I’m surprised childhood years are so tricky…
I personally prefer Norman Deno’s paper towel method for germinating the seeds (chapter 3, page 13):
https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=41278&content=PDF
(Norman Deno is Professor of Chemistry, passed away at age 96 in 2017):
So, after 3 monts cold stratification, I moved the moist packets OVER THE fridge, near backside, where the warm air is present. Checked every 2-3 days and sowed only the seeds that are germinated. The % of germination is
low indeed.
The lowest temperature this winter was -18 C. But this was for short time and there was 40 cm snow cover.
For comparison: The small asian persimmon seedlings from 2017 had survived under the snow too. Two years old feijoa seedlings are death above snow line and push green below.
Thank you @chriso and @pileta,
yesterday the next 2 seedlings sprouted. They are really taking their time… Its now 4 out of 48, not exactly an overwhelming successrate, but I do hope some more will follow.
Now the quest is to keep them alive. As I said above the first 2 died shortly after sprouting.
Sadly I had no luck in keeping the seedlings alive.
Meanwhile I collected scion wood whenever I saw a morus nigra on every travel I did. Then I grafted it back at home. The rate of success was very low cause I collected scions at every possible and impossible time. But I managed to propagate some of those old trees. One of those grafts is now starting to put out male flowers. That would be a bummer with every other mulberry. But I am happy to have a male morus nigra. It looks like I will be able to use the male tree to produce my own seedlings.
It tough at times. I lost 5 pluot and 2 peach seedlings this year. I did manage to keep the nigra seedlings alive. I have 2. One has barely grown but still alive.
The other seedling is doing well. Now growing secondary branches. This is a seedling off the Bulgarian nigra.
Those seedlings look very good, drew.
Overall my seedlings just didn’t seem very determined to live. A little too much sun for a short time and they died, repotted them maybe a little early and they died… Since only 5 or so sprouted I didn’t really had a chance to learn from my mistakes…
i agree, and quite intriguing!
I’m down to three seedlings from 20 in this round. My first round of 20 withered over the course of some five years. Bottom line: Morus nigra seedlings are relatively easy to sprout but very difficult to keep alive. I am going to baby these three and hope for the best…
For many reasons. It’s from zone 6, well it’s mother. Also the plant self produced, so it’s genetics are only from the lone zone 6 morus nigra in Vratsa Bulgaria. There they call the mother tree Tsarigradska mulberry.
Interesting fig like leaves right now, that should change. It could be a male tree too. I have 2 of them, so see how it goes…
awesome, apart from practically unheard of, if it moves a couple notches down usda zones. And with you hoping that it is a she, or at least bisexual, as long as it is not totally he.
