[NAFEX] Mulberries, vegetative propagation

Lucky Pittman lucky.pittman at murraystate.edu
Fri Feb 18 09:02:25 EST 2005


At 10:23 PM 2/16/2005 -0600, Donna wrote:
>  Someone, maybe Lucky, once assured me that softwood cuttings of mulberry 
> were very
>easy to root.

Mulberries, being 'cousins' of the fig, should be relatively easy to 
propagate from cuttings.  I've had some success doing so, but I'm thinking 
my biggest problem, with dormant-collected cuttings, was not using cuttings 
of sufficient caliper.  I suspect that 1/2 to 3/4 inch or larger cuttings 
are going to hold the best promise for successful rooting.

Semi-hardwood cuttings, collected (here) and struck in mid-late July have 
been fairly easy to root; I usually leave only a couple of leaves - and cut 
half the leaf off, and tent the pot I'm rooting them in to diminish 
evaporative losses.

My understanding - and personal experience has borne this out to some 
extent - is that M.rubra is more difficult to propagate from cuttings than 
is M.alba or the hybrids.

Grafting - I've done all sorts of grafts - whip & tongue, simple whip, 
cleft, bark grafts.  All have been reasonably successful, though I've 
probably had best success with cleft grafts and bark grafts.

Lucky Pittman
USDA Cold Zone 6
AHS Heat Zone 7
Hopkinsville, KY




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