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[Haighal@aol.com]

Last winter or spring Pomona published an article I wrote titled Pruning By Numbers.  It might be helpful for you to refer to that.  The way I decrease the vigor any fruit tree is to thin out the branches with the largest diameter in favor of thinner branches.  Stub cutting won’t do it because it creates a vigorous response due to an imbalance where the branch continues to have the same access to its roots to service fewer growing points.  It’s like doubling a trees access to water and nitrogen.  This also sets back a trees sexual maturity (fruitfulness).  A mulberry is so determined to fruit and fruits on current seasons wood so it might not be affected as much as other trees by this.

 

For mulberry trees it is also affective to train the branches you leave to a weep by pruning branches back to hanging wood.  This won’t affect a branch like stub-cutting because the downward pointing piece you leave will send a hormonal message not to go vegetative at the point of the cut.  I have successfully transformed Illinois Everbearings into a less vigorous weeping shape by doing this. 

 

I would recommend summer pruning the mulberry between mid-July and mid-August so the tree does not delay dormancy as might occur by later pruning.  Mulberries can be killed if they don’t harden off properly.

 

Alan Haigh

 

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