To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] dwarfing mulberries
Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 16:29:11 -0500
At 01:57 PM 7/9/2003 -0700, you wrote:
By the way, has anyone grafted any mulberries to dwarf
or contorted rootstock? I would like to keep mine
small.
We planted some 'dwarf' mulberries a number of years back - identity is now
lost, but I don't think they were identified as Geraldi' - just
'dwarf'. All 4 are 'bushier' than IE, Collier, Wellington, or my M.alba &
M.rubra seedlings, and they're significantly different from one another in
growth patterns that I'm convinced that they're not all the same - in fact,
one is a non-fruiting male that is very vigorous. One of the four is
significantly smaller than the other three, being only 6-7 ft tall, after
being in the ground for probably 7 years. All are twiggy, bushy little
things, and are probably soon to be removed in favor of something more
productive. They don't even really make good 'climbing' trees for the
kids, due to the multiple small, sharp twigs they put out all over their
branches.
I sent Gordon some cuttings from the smallest one a couple of years back;
think he was intending to try them as a dwarfing interstem. Maybe he'll
let us know how that worked, though we may not be far enough along to
really get a good idea of success or failure.