Yes, all this rain has been a siren call for slugs!
I use these mesh pots wrapped with self-stick copper tape in the spring for new transplants. Pushed into the ground, they work pretty well. But not for those @#$% tiny slugs! The pots are sold as wastebaskets from the Dollar Store.
I need to raid the dollar store!
I always have to apply copious amounts of Sluggo around my pawpaws if I want them to have any leaves. Given how toxic they are, I’m surprised at how much slugs and snails love eating pawpaws.
And have you ever seen a slug dance in the pale moonlight? Just spray it w a little ammonia and it will dance like a jumping bean. My secret weapon for slugs is ammonia in a sprayer. About 1 shot glass full to 1000ml spray bottle. It will burn them like napalm. Dance piggies dance. Damn slugs. No need to reapply. They melt there in about an hour like the wicked slug of the west. It won’t hurt the plants if you overspray. It is just a nitrogen foliar spray. I go out about 9-10 after the slugs are out. It is a slug slaughtering dream. It the best way to kill a zombie horde of hatchling baby slugs coming out of the composted leaves first rainy week. Hands down.
The lemon scented stuff works fine. I often cannot find it unscented. Just household cleaning ammonia from the grocery store.
i assume you dilute it. if so, whats your formula?
sounds like a smart idea. we have slugs up the yin yang here too. probably its not quite as bad as for you guys in the PNW, but close. At least you dont have african ground snails !
I would put a full shot glass as just over an ounce, and 1 liter is 33.9 ounces, so I reckon a 30:1 concentration of water to ammonia is about right.
oh yeah, you said that. i must have been distracted while reading.
I love the smell of napalm, er I mean ammonia in the morning. It smells like victory
Traffic alert: large slug crossing 101 near Orick. Expect delays.
Fascinated by this discussion. I bought several unrooted cutting last year that were supposed to be M Nigra - Southern Black was the label and i was skeptical they could survive my Zone 6. They wouldnt even root though. I have three Pakistani that grafted onto one of my Mom’s volunteer trees beautifully with 8+ feet of growth. But they didnt take on her SIX other trees. So i took cuttings from that tree to use for rootstock. I also tried a everbearing on one too. Thats the smaller picture. Last picture is pakistani on volunteer last June … just getting started.
Richard let us all know he would be on leave for a while. Unfortunately his input is unavailable.
I have very little knowledge on mulberry myself. At least the nigra. Dark buds look right compared to the posts of others. Is that one rooted yet? That would be awesome if you were able to root it. It is apparently the toughest of the mulberry to root. That is what is reported over and over again by those that have tried before. I am rooting for you. Ha
I have a tip cut that is bud swelling for me. I won’t call it alive until it is 12” long. Crossing my fingers. I won’t be sad if it withers and dies. But it’s fun to give a bud a try.
I have four pushed in perfect wood shaving type medium. Works frequently. If it doesnt, I know where the tree is 
He got it years ago from a nursery is So Cal. Its about 15 ft tree thay he keep well pruned (he is a landscaprer by trade) in perfect tree shape. Probably 15-20 year old tree.
I also always can use my Mom’s countless volunteers at her house as rootstock if I need to graft. Maybe I’ll try a couple next week.
The buds look legit to me, though I am no expert.
For comparison, here is a pic of buds at about the same stage on a King James that I got from Lucille Whitman. It is definitely a Morus nigra.
The growth pattern of the spurs matches too. It’s very different than the Pakistani or the dwarf everbearing.
Looks correct to me. I’ve successfully grafted 3 cultivars of nigra now. The scions of “Kaester” looked almost exactly like that cutting. I think it is true nigra, but that means pretty unlikely to root. Cut off a single bud and do a T-bud on one of those other mulberries. Like this one of Fruitwood’s “Persian” that I did up-thread:
I threw a couple scions in fridge till i get a chance next week to get back to it. Work gets in the way of playing … anyway, would you recommend bud graft over cleft? I’ve done bud grafts on stone fruit in late summer but either whip n tongue or cleft on mulberry. Admittedly with limited success - maybe 30% take but I chalked that up to doing them waaaay too early while we still had freezing temps at night regularly.
I’ve had better luck with bud grafts, but mulberries seem to be happy with almost any type of graft as long as the sap isn’t flowing so much that latex floods the graft. I had not quite 50% take for mulberry cleft grafts (4 of 9) in the last 2 years, but 100% for T-buds (3 of 3). The only whip and tongue that I tried last year failed, but I tried another one this spring and still waiting to see if it takes.
As long as no sap is flowing, mulberry grafts have been reasonably reliable for me.
But rootstock appears to matter a lot. Rubra rootstock or even part Rubra rootstock has very low take rate with Nigra.
Tatarica is my best rootstock.
I agree sap floods for sure. But it’ll start flowing so much end of January and then no bud break till April in high desert 1000m + elevation.
And still have night time temps in 20s. I have three in the greenhouse right now for protection.
