North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> One thing I am testing is planting  Illinios everbearing in large root 
> control pots in the ground. I have it in the ground for 2 1/2 years 
> now at about 10 feet high with no pruning. The growth seem to be 
> slowed, but I am not getting much fruit.


That's interesting. I don't know what the roots are like on a mulberry, 
but maybe I could just cut the shallower roots with a shovel to slow it 
down. Unfortunately, the fruit is the whole point, of course, so this 
might not be the best thing to do. Also, it's very hot and dry here in 
the summer, so I'd be hesitant to do much with the roots.

When it comes to wild mulberries, I can cut the trunk off completely and 
they just keep sprouting up. I believe the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry 
is grafted, so I wouldn't want to cut the trunk completely off, but I 
wonder if really, really heavy pruning every year - down to the stump, 
perhaps - wouldn't just cause it to sprout out in bush form? I wouldn't 
want to do that with most fruit trees, but it might suit the mulberry 
quite well. It's not as though the fruit would be too heavy or anything, 
and I think they bear on new growth.

I wouldn't want to do this with my plum trees, though.


> I wish I had a solution.  I also have an illinios everbearing that grows too 
> vigorously, it seems, for summer pruning to keep in check. ... I did figure 
> out that leaving a 1 to 1 1/2 stub (without buds) does seem to prevent as 
> rampant of growth, but I'm careful to watch for problems in leaving that much 
> wood to die back when I make pruning cuts.


You said you trimmed four times this summer. When you cut off the ends 
of the branches and they sprout out from there, where do you cut for the 
second pruning?  Hmm,... my mulberry doesn't seem to be so bad with this 
(the little experience I've had), since it just sprouts from the end and 
keeps growing. But my plum quickly puts out multiple shoots that weigh 
too much for the branch to hold up.

But maybe you prune the tip the first time, then further back along the 
branch (i.e. taking out all the new sprouts) the second time, etc.?  I 
was trying to do it the other way around - cutting the branch back quite 
a bit, then when it sprouted out, cutting the sprouts partially back. 
But these trees have been too vigorous for that to work very well.

Well, I'm pretty new at all of this, so I'm not too comfortable with 
what I'm doing in pruning at all. I suppose I'll learn.

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
He's like the Peanuts character Pigpen. Wherever he goes, he stirs up 
such a humongous mess, it can only be cleaned up by Halliburton. - Bill 
Maher, on George W. Bush