After several attempts, and numerous sticks stuck in trenches in the ground and pots indoors and out, I now have, to my astonishment, precisely one cutting of my Black Mulberry growing in a pot indoors on the windowsill. It has one leaf, which is growing from the node nearest to soil surface. The rest of the stick above it looks fairly dead. There are a couple of small buds coming from the old wood near the leaf base, where I am expecting some more growth.

Having got this far, and with only one, I don't want to mess it up. What do I do next? When would I transfer it outside and pot it on?

I've not done mulberry cuttings though I've done fig, and I have a mulberry tree.

I wouldn't pot it on until I can see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot. Let it get a good strong root system before disturbing it.

You probably should aim to get it outside sometime this summer, so that it is ready for the winter - otherwise you'll have to keep it indoors over winter. But this is dependent on getting good growth.

A useful thing to know about mulberries are that they are very late in coming into leaf. My tree (Yorkshire) is not yet in leaf, although the buds are elongating.

echinosum wrote:
After several attempts, and numerous sticks stuck in trenches in the
ground and pots indoors and out, I now have, to my astonishment,
precisely one cutting of my Black Mulberry growing in a pot indoors on
the windowsill. It has one leaf, which is growing from the node nearest
to soil surface. The rest of the stick above it looks fairly dead.
There are a couple of small buds coming from the old wood near the leaf
base, where I am expecting some more growth.

That sounds like my redcurrant cuttings. 2 have grown leaves - one from
the top, one from the bottom!

Having got this far, and with only one, I don't want to mess it up.
What do I do next? When would I transfer it outside and pot it on?

I have zero experience with mulberries, but personally I am going to wait
till my redcurrant is showing signs of root.

On Mon, 28 May 2012 09:35:06 +0000, echinosum
wrote:


After several attempts, and numerous sticks stuck in trenches in the
ground and pots indoors and out, I now have, to my astonishment,
precisely one cutting of my Black Mulberry growing in a pot indoors on
the windowsill. It has one leaf, which is growing from the node nearest
to soil surface. The rest of the stick above it looks fairly dead.
There are a couple of small buds coming from the old wood near the leaf
base, where I am expecting some more growth.

Having got this far, and with only one, I don't want to mess it up.
What do I do next? When would I transfer it outside and pot it on?

How big were the sticks you stuck in? I've never done it but
understand that they will root from fairly thick pieces better than
small chunks. I wouldn't repot yours yet. Wait till it gets more than
one leaf, but do move it to a shaltered place outside.
My purchased mulberry is in a pot and only about 2 feet tall but
fruited for the first time last year - all 3 of them - at less than 10
years old. Are you planning a silk farm?

Pam in Bristol

On Mon, 28 May 2012 Pam Moore wrote:

After several attempts, and numerous sticks stuck in trenches in the
ground and pots indoors and out, I now have, to my astonishment,
precisely one cutting of my Black Mulberry growing in a pot indoors on
the windowsill. It has one leaf, which is growing from the node nearest
to soil surface. The rest of the stick above it looks fairly dead.
There are a couple of small buds coming from the old wood near the leaf
base, where I am expecting some more growth.

Having got this far, and with only one, I don't want to mess it up.
What do I do next? When would I transfer it outside and pot it on?

How big were the sticks you stuck in? I've never done it but
understand that they will root from fairly thick pieces better than
small chunks. I wouldn't repot yours yet. Wait till it gets more than
one leaf, but do move it to a shaltered place outside.
My purchased mulberry is in a pot and only about 2 feet tall but
fruited for the first time last year - all 3 of them - at less than 10
years old. Are you planning a silk farm?

You need a white mulberry for silk worms.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

On Mon, 28 May 2012 21:51:08 +0100, David Rance
wrote:

On Mon, 28 May 2012 Pam Moore wrote:

After several attempts, and numerous sticks stuck in trenches in the
ground and pots indoors and out, I now have, to my astonishment,
precisely one cutting of my Black Mulberry growing in a pot indoors on
the windowsill. It has one leaf, which is growing from the node nearest
to soil surface. The rest of the stick above it looks fairly dead.
There are a couple of small buds coming from the old wood near the leaf
base, where I am expecting some more growth.

Having got this far, and with only one, I don't want to mess it up.
What do I do next? When would I transfer it outside and pot it on?

How big were the sticks you stuck in? I've never done it but
understand that they will root from fairly thick pieces better than
small chunks. I wouldn't repot yours yet. Wait till it gets more than
one leaf, but do move it to a shaltered place outside.
My purchased mulberry is in a pot and only about 2 feet tall but
fruited for the first time last year - all 3 of them - at less than 10
years old. Are you planning a silk farm?

You need a white mulberry for silk worms.

David

They will eat both. I have used both white and black mulberry to feed
silkworms. The fruit of the white is a very poor comparison to the
black.

Pam in Bristol

In fact it was the largest of the several sticks I tried that has rooted, so that tends to confirm that theory. It was probably about 10 inches long, and originally had a few side twigs though I trimmed all but one of those off. I had chosen twigs with nice terminal buds, but given it has leafed from low down and the terminal bits all died, I'll forget that theory if I try again. This is the first time I tried it indoors, the books talk about doing it outdoors, but my outdoor attempts, both pots and in trenches (as the book suggested) with varying sized prunings all failed.

There is talk of "truncheon" cuttings for mulberries, but I read that this doesn't mean something literally truncheon thick, just perhaps a bit bigger than for most other things.

In China and India, silkworms are mostly fed on Broussonetia papyrifera, the paper mulberry, though I believe also white mulberry as someone said. Paper mulberry is a bit tender for Britain, but it has become an invasive weed in climates like Pakistan.

I already have a red mulberry tree of some 12 years in the ground, and I now have to prune it most years to ensure the fruit remains in reach, even though I pick it with a ladder. I don't have space for another. But I thought it would be good to use the prunings to try and grow some cuttings, either for friends/relatives who wanted one, since they are expensive, or even just to guerilla plant in some hedgerow of a disused field.

Is red mulberry the same as black mulberry?

I've given up trying to pick my black mulberry by hand - not matter how careful I am, picking a ripe fruit always causes at least one unripe one to fall. I just grovel around on hands and knees picking them up once they've fallen.

I've seen suggestions that you should spread a sheet underneath and shake the tree.

I meant black mulberry. I often call it red by mistake no doubt because of the wine analogy. Red mulberry is a N American native, with similar fruit to black, but rarely seen in cultivation here because it is substantially dioecious (separate male and female).