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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] mulberries - pruning to weep

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  • From: Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] mulberries - pruning to weep
  • Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 10:59:51 -0400

Alan wrote:
"The only mulberry I grow here is Illlinois Everbearing and it too has a
mysterious tendency to check out with no suicide note.  Sometimes they
get canker that I've never identified that kills the trees in a few
years and sometimes they just don't come out of winter.  At least they
often send up suckers from the roots when this happens so you can graft
a new tree.  They are susceptible to scale so oil may be in order.

They are impossible for me to keep in a small space but you can keep
them in-bounds by pruning them to a weep and summer pruning them once a
season- removing all vigorous upright growth.  They make beautiful trees
managed this way and you keep a lot of fruit in ladderless reach. "


But HOW do you prune them to weep?

I have been trying for a year by pruning upright growth to a downward
facing bud. When the lateral grows, it heads up again. I have even
thought of training each lateral by tying it to a weeping form while it
is soft, before it becomes woody. But that seems like an AWFUL lot of
work.

Are there any other methods to try?

Betsy Hilborn
7a NC





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