Not breaking dormancy because low chill hours

General Fruit Growing
1

Hello everyone,

I made a mistake this year. I rooted some mulberries during the winter, but they developed a bad spider mite infestation. I struggled to keep it under control, so I decided to place them outside at the end of winter to reduce the mite population. They went dormant but only received a very short period of chill hours. When I scrape the bark, the cambium is still green, but they refuse to break dormancy, even though it has been hot for weeks.

Is there any way to remedy this? They’re in smallish pots, so I could trim them, put them in the fridge for a couple of months, and then place them outside afterward.

Or will they eventually break dormancy on their own?

Thank you!

2

Are the roots alive?

3

They appear to be

1 Like
4

Down here at my location in Vista CA, we had less than 200 chill hours Oct. – April. For mulberries I have potted M. alba ‘Honey Drops’, M. macroura ‘Pakistan’, M. nigra ‘Black Persian’, and M. alba x rubus ‘Illinois Everbearing’. They leafed out in a staggered fashion, with the M. macroura starting a month ago, then the M. alba, the hybrid perhaps a week ago, and the M. nigra this week.

1 Like
5

This gives me some hope, thank you!

1 Like