Seller from Hawaii sold it as “Morus Rubra”; it arrived in about 45 days in envelope, already rooted (very small tiny roots, at bottom and even in the middle at sides). It is not first time I receive rooted cuttings after very long time postage takes, but it is 1st time I was able to keep it!
Last year I was able to root few times Morus Nigra cuttings (unrooted initially), Shangri La; all are dead. I used plastic bags 8"x4" filled with 1:1 of wet peat moss and perlite, wet but not watery; as soon as I saw that top of soil is dry I added water; and when I saw roots WOW!!! I instantly planted it in a pot with soil and started regular watering. All are dead. “Regular Watering” kills it. The only plant survived is Pink Mulberry variety, and only because it was in a strange peat moss which absorbs almost no water.
This time is different, see the pictures; it was planted less than 5 weeks ago!!!
1st Batch: Coco Fiber (“as is”, it came moisturized), Plastic Pots (No Drainage), Plastic Box, Fluorescent Lighting (with extra UV I believe; far from lights, “in a shade” on basement floor):
I added cup of water into the box yesterday, to increase some moisture inside. Not sure. Plastic cups do not have drainage; I didn’t add water to plastic cups. My plan is to wait… although growth already pushes through the roof
This coco fiber is reusable. But I am not going to try to remove it. Maybe I’ll make few big cuts-holes in plastic and plant it “as is” into bigger pot; later (next year maybe) I can check roots, remove girdling, etc.; and perhaps plant it into ground next fall
2nd Batch: almost all the same except that I wanted to save space (following some YouTube video for Figs) in a box and I didn’t use 20-oz plastic cups.
Main difference is it was placed in another room… with 10x less light. Fungi started growth on it. I placed it in main lighted room only a week ago. I am very sure “UV Light” plays role here, I am using special T5 fluorescent growth light, and plastic PET is important too: plastic is transparent for UV, glass is not.
It seems fungi stopped growth after I moved it to main lighted room:
Looks good. I like to transplant as soon as the roots pop to minimize stress. I started cloning in cups, but I was annoyed when I reused cups that were marked. I started marking with masking tape, then I did away with the cups. It takes too long to monitor the moisture of that many individual containers, and stresses the clones by constantly picking them up. Coco coir is a great hydroponic medium, but even better blended 50/50 with Hydroton.
Most potting soils are a heterogeneous mix of too-wet and too-dry materials. Coco coir has a near optimal moisture to air ratio when fully damp/drained, and Hydroton is spot-on/better than perlite for drainage. You can set up a cheap ebb&flow system, or just fertigate with hydroponic solution. I have already confirmed figs will grow well with this combination, I just need to confirm fruiting. I also want to try one with straight hydroton.
People get intimidated by the idea of hydroponics, but in many ways it is easier than potting mix. Bark and peat hold excess fertilizer salts, and can eventually become toxic if not changed. If you make a mistake with hydroponic medium, the nutrients/salts flush right out. H2O2 is sold in large concentrated jugs at hydroponic shops if fungus gnats and/or mold become a problem, but it never does in straight hydroton. A hydroponic reservoir is slightly easier to maintain than a small fish tank.
For marking, I use special cheap Epson LabelWorks printer, if you use three lines for text it becomes very small & cute; and you can easily detach & attach new label. Much easier than handwriting for me. And I didn’t add any moisture to containers; no any at all; it came already moist… I added only cup of water at bottom of big plastic box few days ago, to have a little more humidity. You are right, I should try to replant it in few weeks at most; and uncover; too big now. If I uncover (remove cover from big box) fr sure soil will dry quickly, and I don’t have any drainage in plastic cups.
2-sided black & white visqueen sheeting (aka panda film) works great for keeping moisture in containers. The white side reflects light back up to the plants, while the black side shades the roots. The top layer will not dry out, and the roots will grow right up to the surface. It makes full use of the medium, and allows you to track root growth to the edge of the container. It is time to transplant shortly after the roots reach the edge of the pot. When the top layer dries, the roots do not make use of it, and you effectively waste 10-20% of the volume of your pot. It is a trick I learned from cannabis growers, where that kind of difference can mean big money.
@nil, should I insert this sheeting into container? outside white, inside black? I didn’t really understand. Before, I used (for example) zip-lock and moisture couldn’t escape, but cuttings were in mold and rotted. Now, I use just plastic boxes with cover, maybe 85% moisture inside, not 100%, and everything looks healthier
The film does look like that, but you just use it as a top cover in place of mulch on standard containers. https://www.amazon.com/VIVOSUN-Black-White-Panda-Film/dp/B018VI6ZUQ/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=panda+film&qid=1575708001&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-4
White side up, it reflects light, and the black side blocks light from reaching roots. Square hard containers are prefered. You cut it to fit over the top of the pot, and drill/slit to fit around the plant. If you just have a few clones, you can use aluminum foil, but repeated lifting to water messes up/wrinkles aluminum. Fabric and other soft pots tend to stress the roots when you move them. The pots you linked are great for setting up a large number of pots you do not intend to keep. I still think the best thing is locally sourced nursery pots from craigslist.
I have these five cuttings marked as “Black Mulberry (Sour)” from Turkey; it is Morus Nigra. I received it in October. I am wondering when cuttings were made… last year? It was wrapped/sealed in thin plastic without any wet paper etc; and it spent one month in mail. I planted it using the same routine with coco coir today. Note how brittle is it, those small bumps on stem easily break (you can see pieces on table). I didn’t use rooting hormone with it, and I didn’t remove buds at bottom. Note also fungi at bottom; could be mycorrhizal, beneficial. I didn’t spray with H2O2: I can do it later if needed.
I have had about 50% success with just stabbing sticks in the ground. Can’t get much easier than that! Anybody know how long it takes them to fruit from rooted cuttings?
Saw a video where they were planting an entire mulberry field for tree production. They made trenches the entire length of the field. Then took 6 inch cuttings and laid them flat in the trench and buried. Then showed the latter results and it looked like most all of them grew. If only all fruit trees were that easy to propagate.
I think the ability to root directly into the ground depends on your climate and soil. I would probably have to wait until mid June at the earliest here due to cold damp soil and climate. If you have the correct climate and soil, rooting directly into the ground is the way to go. You will probably have a slightly higher failure rate, but if an operation is planting thousands of cuttings, it would probably be more efficient to just replace the ones that do not root. Once they have a few mature trees, clone wood supply is not a big issue. You could heat callus a large quantity at once. Labor is a major cost in big operations, so most industry practices are designed to reduce labor expense. It is probably more profitable to have a 20% failure rate than pay a staff to tend thousands of clones in a greenhouse.
You’re right about most Morus types, they root very easily, but unfortunately, Morus nigra does not root easily. Actually I am convinced the only way to propagate M. nigra is grafting onto another type like an alba.
Hey Robert, Most mulberries are very precocious and will fruit the 1st or almost always the 2nd year from propagation. However, like most fruits including figs, they get better with time, so the little fruits the first 1-2 or even 3 years are usually not totally indicative of the fruit’s potential.
And, species and even cultivars within the same species are propagated with varying degrees of difficulty vie cuttings. Some are easy, some nearly impossible, some about 50%. It just depends on that factor as well as environment, skill level, type of cuttings, time of year etc. I find softwood cuttings do much better than hardwood cuttings, as a rule. I don’t propagate Morus nigra, though, only alba, rubra, macroura and hybrids.
I tried to stick about 16-20 cuttings of wild Morus Alba hybrid into a huge pot outside, in August last year. Some started to grow. Almost all survived Winter (in a 16-Gal pot, outside!!!). This Spring I decided that I don’t need it, and checked one by one… only about 3 or 4 had very small roots. But all survived. Yes I know my sandy place is extremely fertile I can just insert any cutting into it and it will start grow, but I can’t do it with few King James cuttings I have! I was keeping it… for about a year in a fridge in a hope to learn grafting and to graft it.
Mulberries in main pictures here are probably Morus Rubra; but main subject is not even is it hard to root or not… last year I was able to root Morus Nigra top-bag style (4"x16" plastic bags) using wet 50:50 mix of perlite and peat moss, but I lost it when I started watering.
Just as an example: I repotted cuttings, and I almost lost one, it is covered with plastic cup now because it doesn’t have roots, roots are extremely brittle!!! Compare with Morus Nigra seedlings (in another thread), roots were exceptionally strong, I abused them by washing under water and separating 9 trees grown in 6oz cup. They are all doing Ok.
And also, Coco Coir which I used for rooting looks too dry, very dry on initial pictures in this thread.
I was sure coco coir is too dry. Plastic cups didn’t have any drainage and I was afraid to add any water from top, so I added cup of water into the bottom of large covered plastic box to increase humidity. And in few days I noticed cuttings started getting molded!!! So I was forced to take immediate action: repot.
And while repotting, I noticed coco coir was almost the same moisturized as before. Lesson for me… next time I’ll keep it at least few months in it, to have stronger roots. It will need water only if leaves start wilting.
But seriously… I think 2-3 years in most cases, including Morus Nigra, if environment is good.
Here is picture of Mulberry seedling which I bought super small last year from Richters.com - they sell it (and seeds too) under name “Morus Nigra”, and it doesn’t look like Morus Nigra at all. My estimate is this seedling is about three years old. I bought maybe 12 such seedlings. It survived 2018-2019 Winter in a small(!!!) pot outside; only three seedlings survived in a pot.
With first frosts in October, I moved it into basement because I wanted it growing for possible grafting experiments. It lost leaves; then it opened buds; and… we have fruits on it!!!
BTW I sent some leaves to @Livinginawe (thank you!) and he looked it it under microscope: “jigsaw puzzle”, larger than M.Alba nuclei, but smaller than M.Nigra.
