A four-year-old black mulberry
It's hard to believe this tree was just a sad-looking bare root twig when I popped it in the ground almost exactly four years ago:
It's got at least a six-inch diameter on the trunk now. I love it.
I was actually able to find the original order receipt from Gurney's nursery in my old e-mails:
That tree is now about 20' tall, maybe taller.
I don't recommend Gurney's Nursery in general. Though they're large and have a big selection at low prices (when they do sales in particular), the quality on their fruit trees isn't nearly as high as Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.
Or the quality you'll find at Florida Food Forests, for that matter.
Anyhow, when I planted this mulberry I was just learning about the tree. This particular specimen (and its Frankenberry sister in the food forest) just doesn't make as large a fruit, or as much fruit, as I would like to see.
But it did grow big very quickly. It looks like it will be an excellent climbing tree in a few more years. And though the fruit isn't incredible or as ridiculously profuse as it is on my Illinois Everbearing tree, it's still delicious and abundant.
I'm collecting better varieties of mulberry in my nursery for sale this new year. Last year I almost sold out of everything, even tiny trees. This year I'll be propagating a lot more, plus working on getting some root stock going so I can graft some oh-do-difficult-to-root Pakistan Long mulberry trees and sell them. That's at least a one-year proposition however... so stay tuned.
As for this tree... time is a wonderful thing. Put in trees right now and you'll be peering up at them in just a few years. There's no time like the present to plant. Get out there and plant!
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Labels: florida food forests, gurneys, mulberry, pakistan long mulberry, peaceful valley
posted by David The Good @ 7:00 AM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
It's 10 above, outside. You'll understand if I wait just a bit for the ground to thaw. Say, mid April for the early stuff like onions. But the planning is going full on. And I'll be starting the onion seeds in a few days.
It's 10 above, outside. You'll understand if I wait just a bit for the ground to thaw. Say, mid April for the early stuff like onions. But the planning is going full on. And I'll be starting the onion seeds in a few days.
Are you pruning this tree? If so, how often, when, and how much, etc.? We have mulberry tree that has been in the ground for almost 5 years. It just started to take off this past summer. I just don't know when or how much to prune back.
10. Whoa. Not cool.
I only pruned a little to remove crossing branches in the center.
Mulberries can take all the pruning you feel like giving them. Depending on the species, they can grow quite tall. Black mulberries (Morus nigra) are the smallest of all - Red mulberries (Morus rubra) are the tallest, sometimes growing into stately (and unharvestable) 60' trees.
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