Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
 


       Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own
Bungo

Mulberry ?

The one tree post got me curious, was not aware they grew well in the UK.
Do they ?and if so a good variety to grow , and what sort of space allowance . and are they self fertile ? Would you need more than one to get a good crop? I had them more down as an exotic , but I would be delighted to find they do well here Very Happy
sally_in_wales

I know of a few sites in south Wales with one huge mulberry in the garden that fruits well every year, as far as I know each is a lone specimen
Bungo

Sounds good Sally as we are S Wale , so climate must be OK , after all there's the old nursery rhyme, just never seen one here .
yummersetter

I've planted about six and two have survived. Three of them were white mulberries, they put out a few leaves in Spring which wither and die. I've tried planting in early winter, midwinter and keeping the tree in a pot in the polytunnel overwinter and planting out in May.

The first Illinois Everbearing died in the same way, the replant of that variety is thriving, as is Italian, we have had a few fruits this year
tahir

Mulberries are quite easy, main problem is late frosts in exposed areas. Weeping mulberries take very little space and don't get huge
tahir

I've planted about six and two have survived. Three of them were white mulberries, they put out a few leaves in Spring which wither and die. I've tried planting in early winter, midwinter and keeping the tree in a pot in the polytunnel overwinter and planting out in May.

The first Illinois Everbearing died in the same way, the replant of that variety is thriving, as is Italian, we have had a few fruits this year


Late frosts? Wet winters? I planted another couple last year they're both dead
Bungo

Do they not like been transplanted ? They appear to live to a great age , are they slow growing ?


Questions , questions Smile
tahir

Never transplanted one, I'd say they make a small to medium tree quite quickly. They have here anyway; exposed s facing slope in s e essex
sally_in_wales

Sounds good Sally as we are S Wale , so climate must be OK , after all there's the old nursery rhyme, just never seen one here .


There are particularly nice ones at Tretower Court and at a manor whose name currently eludes me just outside Monmouth joanne

There is a huge black mulberry at Levens Hall, near Carnforth, I've seen it fruiting on many occasions staining everything red from the juice of the berries. It's on the borders of Lancashire and Cumbria just below the Lake District so not an area known for it's dry spells! yummersetter

The old books say they're easy, just lop off a bit of wood from a mulberry, poke the bottom end in the ground and voila! Get the sheets ready to catch the huge crop of fruit.

( I think they're copying from each other because they usually call the cut piece a stanchion, not the most obvious description)

I mutter about this every time I dig a mulberry corpse up. tahir

The old books say they're easy, just lop off a bit of wood from a mulberry, poke the bottom end in the ground and voila! Get the sheets ready to catch the huge crop of fruit

Yup, that's what they say. Martin at ART reckons they're quite tricky to propagate mochyn

I know of two: one very old in North Shropshire and the other a little younger in Birmingham. Both black, both fruiting and must be self-fertile Smile The very old one is supported by chaind, poles and all sorts! Piggyphile

I have a black one not a named cultivar planted 2 winters ago. It was already quite a big one (6 ft tall), it is ok but the leaves are a bit sparse, no fruit yet but I have hopes. I tried mulberry seed from Martin at ART but none germinated.

The hot dry summers here are more of a problem to seedling trees than the wet frosty winters. Our winters are around -6 degrees. It is always the last to leaf up and the first to drop it's leaves except for possibly the persimmons (kaki) which are also late developers. Bungo

Thanks everyone, I shall get one I think . NorthernMonkeyGirl

I saw a little one in the garden centre, already fruiting, very tasty too, was very tempted to buy. Could O prune it and claim it as a large fruit bush? Laughing tahir

They don't really like pruning v much astra

They grow well in Somerset. Wonderful trees; I wish I had planted one years ago as I have to go scrounging fruit from the Old Vicarage!

There's a lovely story about King James 1 who wanted to establish a silk trade in Britain to match the established one on the "Continent". He ordered loads of trees and over 4 acres of them were planted out. Unfortunately neither he nor his advisors realised that silkworms like to eat the leaves of the white mulberry not the black so the enterprise never got off the ground. It doesn't say whether anyone lost their head over it! Very Happy gray_b

I tried mulberry seed from Martin at ART but none germinated.


If they are Morus Alba or Morus Rubra, then as long as you have fresh seed, then I can get them to grow quite easily. If they are Morus Nigra, then I have never got any to grow.

I think they're copying from each other because they usually call the cut piece a stanchion, not the most obvious description.


Stanchion is quite apt really, as its describing a 'post' as opposed to just a twig, as being the cutting.

I know of 3 other people myself included who have bought a King James 1 mulberry, and nobody has yet got it to fruit. Anybody else any problems with that variety. tai haku

put me in the column of those who kill mulberries. I've lost illinois everbearing and carmen their first year and the huge black one I bought at a discount has gone backwards (it is however now in leaf (it wasn't in june) so I suppose there is that Rolling Eyes ) dan1

My mums got a lovely fruiting black mulberry. I've tried traditional grafting and air grafts and never got one to take. Might try growing from seed, but won't get same genotype and it'll take longer. Prob best to buy a small seedling (I also did this but it turned out to be a white mulberry with rubbish fruit) Mutton

When I was a kid a house we moved to in Wiltshire had a massive mulberry tree in the garden. Red fruit, roughly raspberry coloured. It was on a NE facing gentle slope with a shrubbery around three sides - south, east, west. Stood far enough from the shrubbery that it got plenty of sun. Fruited superbly every year. (And then we moved house again Sad )

I've just planted a black mulberry tree - about two months back - we shall see...... NorthernMonkeyGirl

The poor little tree is now knocked down to £7.50. Sorely tempted! Piggyphile

Oh go for it.... how can you not?
It will be shrubby for years or grow it in a pot. OtleyLad

The poor little tree is now knocked down to £7.50. Sorely tempted!

It clearly needs someone to look after it Laughing

If you've a big enough pot/planter you could also move it into a sheltered location over winter while its young (poly/grennhouse, etc). mochyn

I was scrumping mulberries from a tree in Herefordshire on Saturday Wink tahir

I was scrumping mulberries from a tree in Herefordshire on Saturday Wink

Blinking tea leaf NorthernMonkeyGirl

Happily it turns out the cultivar is a dwarf type, which I discovered via google after buying it Laughing It is now potted into ye olde supalyx bucket Rolling Eyes mochyn

The tree was in a garden open to the public where none of the produce is used. It was sad to see all the fruit lying on the ground and the veg going to waste. I feel I did my bit for common sense Smile LynneA

The tree at Great Dixter was dripping with fruit in July.

But if anyone should be able to grow one, it's there. tahir

common sense

Hold on, common sense? Wink tahir

The tree at Great Dixter was dripping with fruit in July.

I did mean to go back and raid the fig trees at St James Park but never had the time, millions of figs on two of the biggest fig trees I've ever seen
       Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own
Page 1 of 1
Home Home Home Home Home