Your 2-10 year old Silk Hope or similar mulberry

General Fruit Growing
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I started this Silk Hope mulberry this spring… it was a 4 ft long skinny whip… and i have really done nothing but plant it cage it put some compost and wood chips around it.

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It seems to have grown well to me. No complaints… and by some miracle my deer have not browsed it one bit yet.

Trying to imagine how I should prune this thing next spring… i do have deer to contend with.
Seems that i would need to let it grow tall enough to avoid deer browse… but ideally would be nice to be able to reach fruit without a ladder.
… or possibly with my 4 ft step.

Would love to see pics of your silk hope or similar mulberry… that has been pruned a few times… to possibly get some ideas on how to keep this thing under control some.

Pruning tips, pictures of yours… would be great.

Thanks
TNHunter

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I’d let it go as is. With mulberry it’s easiest to put tarps down and shake the tree.

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Honestly I have never pruned mine, lol.

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My silk hope graft grows slowly and the branches do not seem to be a strong as my other varieties (Black Pakistan, White Pakistan, Shangri La, Thai Dwart, etc) so you might want to let it grow as much as it will in one year to let the main truck get a little fatter before you top it at your final height desired.

My branches look skinny just like your tree.

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My silk hope is far less vigorous than Pakistan or Himalayan.

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Mine grew fairly slowly for a mulberry. Unfortunately, the rabbits girdled it. But I pruned it by getting the upward branches first to an outward bud.

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This vid shows what Jan Doolin does… but evidently she does not have deer pressure.
She prunes hers low… to encourage multiple scaffold branches quite low on the tree.

Think I will try letting mine go up… at least 5-6 ft and then encourage multiple scaffold branches.

I plan to keep a cage around it for several years… 50 inch tall cattle panel cage… to discourage buck rubs.

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This type of pruning looks like it might work well.

A pruning notch… allowing easy access to the center of the tree when fruit is ripening.

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This is what I do – though at this point your horse has left the barn.

First, I start with the stark reality, which may not apply to you, that if my branches aren’t at least 6-7’ off the ground, deer will massacre them. They will reach up, grab a leaf or shoot, and rip it off – often breaking the supporting branch in the process. Mulberry leaves are deer candy.

In Year 1, I remove all growth except the central leader.

For example, on a new Illinois Everbearing planted 2 years ago, the central leader grew from a 1 1/2’ baby tree to a 13-14’ whip in the initial season.

In prep for winter, I cut the whip in half. In late winter I trim it further to ~6’.

in Year 2, I remove all new branches except four, well spaced vertically and horizontally. The 4 surviving branches point roughly NSEW.

This is a gradual process. Initially, branches sprout from every latent bud – maybe 30 in total. I start by removing all buds / branches lower than 4-5’ and thinning the branches above so that 8-12 remain. Then I give the tree a couple weeks to recover. Then I gradually remove remaining branches, selecting four that will survive the cut.

When these branches get to a length of 5-7’, I give them a heading cut. On IE, I did this in mid July. I’m left with 4 trimmed scaffolds, which now branch. I permitted 2-3 branches to grow on each scaffold, removing any growth that was poorly placed (e.g., pointing inward, straight up, or down).

I have a separate Kokuso tree, planted 1 year earlier, that is less vigorous. I applied the same method but more gradually. The central leader was roughly 8-9’ after Year 1. I let the chosen scaffolds grow through the entire season of Year 2. Then I headed the scaffolds at the start of Year 3 (this year).

So right now, the two trees are roughly the same size – 9’ high, each with 4 scaffolds, each with 2-3 potential branches.

I’ll try to find some pictures.

Your tree is basically in similar shape with a lower head. if you don’t have the deer problem, my suggestion would be to thin to 3-4 scaffolds.

This is IE a couple months ago:

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This is Kokuso:

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Hi Trev,
Realistically, your best approach would be to invest in the most reliable way to prevent deer browsing. Given the weeping nature of a mulberry as it loads down with fruit, it will be exposed to the deer unless you either fence it or have a reliable guard dog to prevent deer from approaching it. My IE mulberry is 30 years old, spans 60’ diameter to the drip line. Each year its scaffolds touch the ground on most sides due to growth. I topped it at about 12’ high when it was apparent it could easily grow to high to pick. Each year I trim back and thin all scaffolds to about 5’ off the ground. We get about 70 lb of fresh fruit annually. I have it mulched with wood chips and will add more to extend out to its drip line this winter to conserve water.
If I could do it again, I would top the tree at only 9’ high encouraging scaffolds in all directions, tie down each scaffold to near horizontal growth and prune off all vertical limbs that cannot be tied down to a horizontal growth pattern. Your ideal pattern is an umbrella that you can comfortably walk under and pick fruit. It will take a lot of training to grow since mulberries alway want to go straight up initially, but worth it in the end. In the pic you can see that even though I have trained it for more horizontal growth, there are still each year some limbs that go skyward!
In my case the high limbs typically feed the squirrels, leaving us the low hanging fruits. If you know someone who can give you a reliable hound dog, the mulberry tree would be a good place for a dog house! Just my thoughts.
Best wishes
Dennis

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‘Stearns’ mulberry, in its third leaf; planted as a 6" rooted cutting in Fall 2020. That’s 4-ft tube on the trunk.

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My Stearns bark graft broke in a wind storm (all others were fine). The stem broke free from the support I had and then snapped a hair above the bark graft. I found out within about 24 hours I’d guess. The leaves were wilted but stems and buds looked good. I attempted t-budding and bark grafting it back to the same rootstock. The bark on the rootstock wasn’t slipping, so I’m not sure how it’ll turn out. I checked after a couple days and they were still green. Crossing my fingers.

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