I can see now that bark grafts to larger rootstocks… can be problematic. It can take a couple years or more for complete healing over that larger area… and until it heals over good… this is sure possible.
If i had pruned a lot of that growth off… think it would have been ok.
Girardi was my first tree when I first started gardening. I remember getting it from Whitman Farms and thinking 40 something dollars was a lot back then. Mine got demolished overnight as well. It had a Y shape and overnight half of it was gone. It would have been a heavy producer though as it was producing the year after I bought it. My Pakistan mulberry did not produce but my Illinois Everbearing is doing the same.
I stuck some T-buds of Silk Hope on a large potted seedling last week. If you’ve got any smaller mulberries, you could ‘park’ some mature buds to force next spring.
Winds split out 2 of 3 main trunks of a Mullahy pecan here in the yard, about 15 ft up. No other damage to fruit/ nut trees…another black locust down in the hayfield and at least a couple more big oaks down in the woods.
Sorry to see this Trev! I had a similar storm event on one of my most productive plum limbs this summer. I feel the pain you suffered! I now stake a lot more thru several years of healing. Take care
Dennis
Kent, wa
that sucks! same thing happened to my Juliet cherry yesterday due to heavy rain and heavy fruit load. the 1 branch that’s left is way off balance so i tied it to a t post. lost half the crop. i wish my bush cherries would grow as bushes. lost the other 2 branches off the same tree due to snow damage.
I’d definitely chop some up and try to root it. Down here they take great this time of year. I’ve been meaning to prune some of mine and root. Good luck.
sheesh. yeah, wind really catches those big leaves. Ive noticed gerardi is extra brittle, too. Ill bet that remaining trunk will take right off anyway once you stake it
Sorry this happened… Not trying to rub salt in your wound, but a tall bamboo stake and some cotton twine would have saved it. We all have our dissapointments… I have nurtured a dragon fruit vine in my greenhouse for several years and decided to plant it outside… Its growing great and even had a flower bud forming… when I walked by and just touched the bud, the whole thing fell off… So, again, sorry it happened.
I mentioned above that groundhogs like to strip the leaves off my mulberries – and they will climb a tree to do it! Well, just in the past week or so, I’ve had damage to leaves and branches on my two remaining Gerardi trees. These are located INSIDE a 6’ fence that deer don’t bother to jump.
Meanwhile, I located a Hav-a-hart trap at a corner of the fence roughly 15’ away, baited with corn. Within this same week, I’ve caught four groundhogs – two within an hour or so of each other. I’m sure that basically I nabbed them in the act (or immediately after).
