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  • From: Jay Cutts <orders@cuttsreviews.com>
  • To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [nafex] Pruning advice?
  • Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2012 14:05:59 -0700

I've to an Illinois Everbearing mulberry that is about 10 feet tall now. It is a single stem but has grown in a very bush way, with several branches close to the ground that are very vigorous, often growing nearly as tall as the leader. I have had trouble even getting the tree to grow up from the leader because these lower branches have been more vigorous.

One advantage of having low hanging branches is that the fruit is easy to get to. However, I probably need to train it up as a regular tree and figure that it should branch until about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I assume that as the tree gets mature, it will eventually shade out the bottom-most branches.

So here's my concern. I just sawed off the very lowest branch, which was only about 6 inches off the ground and constituted a good quarter of the bulk of the tree. There is another major branch at about 8 inches above the ground and a third at about 18 to 20 inches or so. After that, the next branch is about 3 feet, which I think may be acceptable.

So I've cut off the lowest branch - taking a huge chunk of the tree with it. Should I cut off the other two lower branches now, which result in removing over half of the tree? Or should I leave them temporarily, letting them grow during this next season and maybe cutting off the bottom-most one next year, and the third one the year after?

I'm asking myself what is wrong with leaving it the way it is. For one thing, the lower branches just put on most of the growth and the tree doesn't seem to grow up from the leader that much. For another, it doesn't LOOK like a tree! It's just a huge bushy thing and it seems like eventually those lower branches will have to go.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Jay

Jay Cutts
Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
Lead Author, Barron's MCAT Prep Book
Lead Author, Barron's LSAT Prep Book (2013)
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