Perhaps the book is available in German?
Took a quick look and indeed it is. It should arive by Friday. 
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I did some additional pruning today
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Wow looks great!
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It’s 4-foot high now. Time to up-pot and prune again!
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Richard,
When transferring a potted plant to another container,so far,I’ve read about two basic ways in working with the roots and the soil around them.
One,like shown in your latest photos,is not to disturb the roots and the other method is to tear at them somewhat,so that they lose that memory of the smaller pot.
The only plant someone said it was a big no no,that I know of,is the Fig,which I guess is a Mulberry relative.
Having had a nursery,what is your experience?Do they all get done this way?bb
@Bradybb –
The plant is still young and small so I was not concerned about distributing roots. But going from a 5 gallon to a 15 gallon would be a different story.
Plants don’t have a “memory”. The shock of transplant will cause many hormonal reactions throughout the interacting network of cells. Given suitable soil it will start developing adventurous roots.
Ficus is a Genus in the mulberry family, Moraceae. Technically all true figs are mulberries!
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Yea I do the same thing. I have lost some young plants when I inadvertently disturbed the roots. Once bigger, I cut the with a knife!
I took a peak at my nigra, dormant in the garage. It’s hard to see as it is in a corner with 10 feet of fig plants in front of it. While collecting your cutting today I pulled a few out to get a look. Looks great! Is alive, no tip burn. Mine is close to the size of yours now. A rather young plant to let go dormant, but it has to get used to the routine. I have no room indoors. I have 3 orange trees, African Blue Basil, Arp rosemary, Mexican oregano, a number of pluot and peach seedlings, and rooted figs. About to start onions. I usually start them today the 15th, I will in a few days. Too busy this year!
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@Richard, I’ve been itching to ask you this. Didn’t you have a Morus nigra tree that you uprooted because your wife didn’t like it? Just curious…
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It was also on M. alba rootstock and growing too vigorously. It had to come out. This time we’ll see how it goes with the bush.
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Although sometimes it’s hard to actually understand it until you’ve muddled through for a while. I like to study up before a new undertaking, but I usually find I have a much different (usually better) understanding of the reference material when I revisit it after some initial attempts.
But, back on the main subject, is it relatively easy to maintain M nigra as a shrub in a pot? Or can it be covered and protected like figs? I’m definitely outside the hardiness zone, but I try to not let that stop me.
On its own roots, not when grafted on M. alba aka Russian Mulberry.
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The plant looks good and it appears you can maintain it as needed. Cool! Thanks for that info, it’s very helpful info for my experiments with nigra.
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I’ve got one that I’ve moved in and out of the house for almost a decade.
It is grafted on what I would only assume is an alba seedling. It fruits yearly, but not heavily. They are great, but only about half of them ripen properly.
It is in a 10 gal pot and has been for at least 5 years. It is only about 5 feet tall (pot and all) and has been getting larger by about 2-3 inches a year.
Its due for a a full repotting. It is healthy and looks good up until about September each year.
I wish it were a bit more vigorous.
Scott
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