Anybody have a suggestion for something that I could keep under size control here in VA? I think I’m going to take out the apple tree and replace it with a mullberry and I’d prefer something that I could keep under 10 feet and maybe popcorn disease resistant.
Can you plant them in root restriction bags in the ground? This way they will stay relatively small.
It’s a fine line between dwarfing and making it not grow (and not produce) much at all.
I see two options:
1.) Plant Geraldi
2.) Ruthlessly prune with a chainsaw
I’m still exploring option 2 on some trees, but I’m thinking one approach could be to let it send up half a dozen 8-10’ shoots. Then, once it is growing and maybe after a heavy rain storm, pull the shoots close to horizontal (maybe 5-6’ high?). That gives you a nice structure of a low but wide tree. Then, each year chainsaw anything that grows up from that structure. Now, this does mean that the whole tree would be ~20 feet wide, so it would only work where you have a bit of space.
I pulled 3-4 long IE shoots to horizontal the other day and didn’t even need to tie them down- they just stayed there on their own. I’m not sure if it was because I did it after a rainstorm, so the extra weight of the water helped or what. I’ll be interested to see if I can keep them productive with the chainsaw. I’ve been using a small chainsaw to prune the Oscar and Kokuso in my front yard (tall enough for street privacy is good, but too tall shades things (even though it is on the North) and can’t be picked anyway…
I got over to the other site with Geraldi yesterday and a few were ripe. They were better than I expected. Not as good as Oscar, but up there with IE. Not quite as much flavor as TE, but TE has much smaller (thinner) berries. Given how good they were, it has me questioning if I should just go with them everywhere…
The Oscar from that site were even better and had nice plump berries which were full of flavor.
The Wellington were good sized, moderately sweet and fairly unexciting. Not bad, just not in the same class as Oscar & Geraldi. Wellington is pretty close to Kokuso IMO. I’m leaning toward topping the tree, removing Wellington and leaving the lower graft of Oscar to take over the area…
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I’ve got a Pakistani mulberry, 8 ft tall in 20 gallon container. Kept in greenhouse during winter, so no freeze damage. It has never flowered or fruited for me in 2 yrs despite fertilizer and bone/phosphate mix. Planning on composting it soon.
do you have a photo of it? where did you get it from?
What would happen if you hinge cut one and let a bunch of shoots grow up from the fallen piece? Something I should have tried. Maybe it would spread the aggressive growth along the fallen trunk and slow it down? Or, maybe it would take up too much room or not work well or not be contained.
I think that’s what I was accomplishing by pulling the relatively young (maybe 8’ long and 1/2-3/4" thick growth horizontal. If it is older or larger, you might need to make some cuts. Too larger and you might be better off heading it and spreading the new growth.
Why not just plant it outside? My graft has been growing for 4 years in a climate 2 zones colder than you are, so it may work. Nothing to risk if you are already considering composting it 
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Bob, we get several false springs here (sudden warmups then freezes), so this tree leafs out pretty early. Too big for me to protect properly. My IE does fine. I’m not really sure this is a true Pakistani either.
White and purple Pakistan mulberries are taking off in the 5 twenty gallon pots.
Frozen Girardi, Oscar, and Kokuso mulberries are tasty hot summer treats.
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its looks like tissue culture non grafted pakistan they do take a while to start fruiting.
Kim, thanks for info. You’re right it’s not grafted. I think it was 6 ft tall in 3 gal pot when I purchased it.
unless the birds get to them first, Looks like I’m going to have at least one fruit from two out of my three Mulberry trees.
However this last winter nearly killed my small noire Of Spain cultivar. But I see some leaves emerging from the ground. I got it from hidden Springs nursery, but I don’t know if it’s crafted or on its own roots. It does not seem to appreciate zone seven a winter like my other three.
Does anyone have any experience in the mid Atlantic region growing Noire Of Spain?
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Going to try some grafting again but mostly I’m interested in Illinois everbearing only. Have over a hundred mulberries now.
Mine died back this year. 26 degrees. Which is cold for S GA. I’ve got 3 or 4 sprouts about waist high. 2nd season since I planted it from a container.
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They take pollarding well…
You could even cut it down to 18 inches and it will respond well the next season, though you won’t get any fruit.
Scott
My Gerardi has fruited for the first time. Holy crap it’s just putting on ridiculous amounts of berries and seems completely impervious to any environmental factors.
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I posted this in another thread and realized it should be posted here. When up potting a mulberry, is there any harm in burying some of the trunk?
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Is that due to flavor or production? Last year I finally got enough to sample (birds let up a bit or the tree outproduced them?) and liked Oscar better than IE. Production-wise, on a per space basis, Geraldi seems best and has decent fruit quality. I haven’t read the earlier posts in quite a while, so I could be repeating myself…
Wait until the birds notice them…
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