|
| |
Mulberries Care Guide
Congratulations on selecting some of the best trees we offer. Mulberries
have many advantages over other popular fruit trees. They fit into busy
people's schedules since the time spent with them is taken up largely by
eating their fruit.
Placement & Spacing
Darker mulberries can "dot" non grassy areas when they ripen and fall.
Plant a mulberry tree away from a house, sidewalk or driveway. The
exceptions, Geraldi Hybrid because of its size 6-10' and the Weeping 8 -
12' tall. Their spacing can be about the same respectively. Both
varieties are very ornamental, so do not hesitate honoring them with a
prestigious place in the yard. Other varieties need to be spaced 15' to
20' apart depending if they are summer pruned. Shangri La and Paradise
are smaller trees requiring a 15' spacing.
Training Weeping Mulberry
The glossy leafed weeper as a young tree will shoot new growth from
ground level and everywhere on up the young trunk. If left on its own,
most of its growth will be running along the ground. When growth starts
in the spring, select an uppermost bud and train it to grow up a stake
to a height of @ 6'. Keep all other lower growth pinched back or
completely off. This will encourage the plant to put its energies into
getting taller. At 6' the weeper can weep, and it will, all the way to
the ground. As the weeper matures, new growth cascades from the top and
the tree grows wider, creating a "fort" that one can crawl into and
enjoy the unique privacy. People have ingeniously arbored weeping
mulberries resulting in a room of weeping walls.
Geraldi Hybrid Dwarf
Geraldi is the smallest mulberry tree I've seen. The fruit is as large
as Illinois Everbearing which it also resembles in leaf. Large dark
green foliage and very short wood growth between the leaf buds. Our 4
year old tree is only 3' tall with the same spread and has fruited for
the last three years, so it should fit into the smallest spaces.
Soil and Planting
Mulberries are not fussy about the soil they are planted in. North,
East, South & West, they are adaptable. Freshly planted mulberries need
water. When the roots of the potted plant take hold in the surrounding
soil, the plant can take some neglect, but a little care goes a long
way. Our customer in Sedona, AZ once wrote that a quart potted plant
when planted in his irrigated orchard grew 12' in one season. When you
pull your plant from the pot, if any roots are starting to grow in a
circular fashion and showing outside the root mass, gingerly spread them
from the root mass. These can be covered with your soil. No need to add
fertilizers, manures etc. to the planting hole. These things can go on
after the tree is growing. When scattered on top of the ground nature,
will incorporate them.
Late Frosts
Ilinois Everbearing, Collier, Weeping, Beautiful Day, Paradise and
Geraldi Hybrid are wise to late frosts, generally leafing later to avoid
them. Fruiting can be depended upon every year. Shangri La has never
missed a crop in five years at the nursery, even though I found the
original trees in Naples, FL. Tehema & pakistan are "low chill"
varieties. That means they only stay dormant a short time and are ready
to grow when warm weather comes. If warm weather comes to early, a frost
can damage the early green growth.
Pruning
To keep the more vigorous trees at picking size we cut the summer growth
in @ July back by half. then the tree bushes out for the remainder of
the growing season. Most of our trees are more round than upright and
easier to pick.
Picking & Storage
Picking is usually done with the hands, but for most of us - hand and
mouth. Unusually large crops are gathered from a tarp or some kind of
sheet spread under the tree. A slight knock on the trunk will bring many
ripe fruits to the sheet. These can be transferred to a bucket. to
separate "frass" from the fruit just add water and the ripest sweet
fruit will sink. I still remember the treat of scooping out the
Beautiful Day white mulberries from the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. My
plan was to dry them for winter use, but they rivaled fresh Barhi dates
for flavor and they never found their way to the pantry. At mulberry
time I graze from one variety to the next usually settling with the tree
whose time has come. I don't strip the tree because there's usually to
much fruit. Enough for visitors, children, employees, and me to enjoy
daily.
Mulberries can be used in cobbler recipes, made into fruit leathers,
quick f4ozen or dried. Dried Illinois Everbearing fruit compare to
raisins are highly competitive.
Hopefully you will enjoy your mulberry as much as we do at Edible. Our
trees have ripe fruit May - June so stop by if you can.
ries. |
