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
1 Like
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.
2 Likes
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?
1 Like
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.
3 Likes
Were these dormant cuttings taken in winter and laid in the trenches in the spring? If my IL Everbearing survives the winter I might try that.
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.
1 Like
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.
Any links to this mulberry video?
1 Like
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.
Broken roots:
In the middle: covered by plastic cup because without roots it is wilting & drying; at front: Morus Nigra seedlings
Morus Nigra seedlings healthy roots, super strong:
2 Likes
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.
1 Like
Hi @Robert, I have a picture… it takes 1 month LOL 
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.
1 Like
@northwoodswis4, @Blake Asian Mulberry Fruit Farm and Harvest - Mulberry Juice Processing - Mulberry Cultivation - YouTube — Here is the link to the mulberry video some of you asked about. I took IE when they had broken bud. Pruned branches, roughed up the ends and stabbed a foot in clay soil. They are about as easy as weeping willows. I plan on putting them everywhere there is not enough light for something better.
2 Likes
@Bambarbia Thanks. I have quite a few grafted ones. Had no idea on cuttings. Some fruits take forever on their own roots. I was just having fun when I put them in the ground, but it is nice to finally see a fruit that is easy to propagate.
Also… many sources mention that Mulberry needs at least 400 cool hours in Winter in order to fruit. And some other sources mention that farmers in subtropics drastically trim their mulberries twice a year in order to have fruits twice a year 
and as you can see, my “Richters Nigra” seedling started fruiting under good fluorescent light in a basement, 6400K+UV, specialized grow light; no 400 hours needed. Less than 3 years old seedling. First fruits.
I have grafted IE (outside, in front-yard), second season: few small fruits; but this (3rd) season: huge 4cm-5cm delicious fruits.
I can verify the trimming trick. Did it last year. They will produce more, but not quite as much as the first round.
Bambardia, the substance at the bottom end of your Morus nigra cuttings is callus. This is the first stage of root formation. In a later stage this plant tissue will differentiate into plant roots. If kept under the right circumstances…
Morus nigra is usually propagated by summer cuttings of half lignified (green) young growth and rooted under mist. The second method which is only suited for hobbyists and not commercially viable is to root thick 4-5-6…cm thick pieces of wood harvested during late winter. These chunky pieces have a much higher rooting percentage than the thin cuttings of one year old lignified wood that you are using.
All other mulberry species can be rooted either by summer cuttings or winter cuttings but success depends entirely on the variety. Some mulberry varieties are very easy to root while others are almost impossible to root. This is genetically determined and has little to do with practical capability of the person.
So, what I mean is that however well you try to nurse your cuttings, success will always depend on the rooting properties of the individual mulberry that you are trying to propagate.
There is a Japanese mulberry germplasm database, of which unfortunately I cannot find the link anymore, where you can see the rooting capability of each of hundreds of varieties. Maybe the link has been removed or maybe the details of the germplasm database are no longer public…maybe someone can do some research…I’m not an internet specialist…
3 Likes