Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - Re: [NAFEX] dwarfing mulberries

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Art Petrzelka <art@complum.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] dwarfing mulberries
  • Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2003 20:43:35 -0500

On Thursday 10 July 2003 19:27, rob hamilton wrote:
> just try out a bunch of mullberries too see what I
> like. then I could ideally graft them on to a dwarf
> rootstock and grow it as a bush (assuming that the
> dwarfing influance will affect the new graft.

I have followed this discussion with some interest, and not a little
amusement, mostly at myself.

Mulberries are good to eat. My grandmother made pies out of them, long before
I was around.

But mostly, I just try to keep them chopped and pulled out of my fencelines.
They do make a great hedge, though, which is important when you live on a
gravel road. Maintenance is fairly easy. Just use the chainsaw to chop off
the tops, or remove every third one each year. I swear they would root and
grow if you stuck a green wand in the ground.

Prune the heck out of them, and they get real vigorous. Cut some first year
growth and trim the bark off the end, and you have the best wienie roast
sticks that can be found. They are strong and moist enough that they don't
burn up easily.

Dad always said to plant Montmorency cherries, because they didn't fruit
until
after the mulberries bore. That way the birds didn't eat up all your
cherries. I plan on keeping some mulberries around my orchard to distract the
birds long enough to get what I need.

We have the white and red mulberries (trees, not the fruit) around here. The
white mulberry is nice and straight and tall, and won't last 2-3 years as a
fencepost. The red is short, branches profusely after about 4 feet, and is
one of the better woods for fenceposts.... if you have midget cattle!

But seriously, since mulberry sprouts suckers so easily, why not just do a
mulberry bonsai to make it dwarfed ? Just like I do for the hedges ?

Just goes to show you that fighting weeds is no good. You might as well try
to
find some good out of them!
--
Art Petrzelka
Amana, Iowa
Zone 5b (?)




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page