5yr Native Tree Challenge #1 Forsoothe! Mulberry #1

[Forsoothe!]

Mulberry #1 as collected 090720...

Sits way back in the pot because that's how the roots are. Big scar at right base grew through black vinyl rabbit fence that had to be surgically removed.

 

[jason biggs]

always wondered where mulberry trees come from - I thought China?
is this red mulberry (morus rubra)?

 

[Forsoothe!]

They are native to North America and Asia. Explanation here. They have crossed here as weeping trees have been common for a long time. Birds love them and replant them everywhere. They are bulletproof and are good beginner trees because they grow fast and take work well. If you get them as weeds in the landscape you are lucky. I am lucky.

 

[Flowerhouse]

That article says "originally imported from China in the 1600s....." so not native to the US. Naturalized, yes, but not native.

 

[Forsoothe!]

That is wrong. They hybridize readily, so any seedlings are any combo under the sun.

 

[LittleDingus]

If you get them as weeds in the landscape you are lucky. I am lucky.

I beg to differ! Mulberry is such a nuisance weed! If you have them, you can not get rid of them! I've cut roots back a foot underground and all I got for the effort was blisters and a new grove of mulberry

Birds do love them...then shit purple everywhere! Your car, the driveway, the deck...even the side of the house!

When I was a kid we made tatoo ink out of the berries. Smush them up, paint a cool tat on your leg...and mom starts screaming about how that will never wash off just don't get the "ink" on that new shirt mom just bought you!

As bonsai, I guess I can see the appeal...I'm interested to see how this develops! But I don't want them growing anywhere near my yard, or my car, or my driveway, or...

 

[Forsoothe!]

Here's a free one about 5 years old that will be show-able next spring. I guess I'm just not as high minded as some others...

 

[LittleDingus]

I guess I'm just not as high minded as some others...

Ah yes, @Forsoothe! always with the little daggers! That's ok, I'm a big boy

To be clear, I wasn't knocking you or your tree. I did and still do find it entertaining that what you find a "lucky weed" was the bane of my existence for decades! This is actually my first property since I was a kid where I've not fought tooth and nail to kill those trees! At my last house, I had to go trough the landscaping several times a year to try and yank them out...turns out they grow faster than lilac and burning bush...if you don't cut them out 3 times a year, your yard looks like shit with all the odd branches poking out of everything. But, of course, if you cut them out, they just sucker more and now the problem is 3x as bad...

...oh, now I see it...there's the "high minded" you were talking about! Fuck me for wanting my landscaping to look nice...mulberry trees are the bomb!

I do agree they can make good bonsai...but so can poison ivy...I don't want that in my landscaping either!

 

[Forsoothe!]

The trick of course is to dig them out whole with an digging fork, and before they get to the 4th year.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Ah yes, @Forsoothe! always with the little daggers! That's ok, I'm a big boy

To be clear, I wasn't knocking you or your tree. I did and still do find it entertaining that what you find a "lucky weed" was the bane of my existence for decades! This is actually my first property since I was a kid where I've not fought tooth and nail to kill those trees! At my last house, I had to go trough the landscaping several times a year to try and yank them out...turns out they grow faster than lilac and burning bush...if you don't cut them out 3 times a year, your yard looks like shit with all the odd branches poking out of everything. But, of course, if you cut them out, they just sucker more and now the problem is 3x as bad...

...oh, now I see it...there's the "high minded" you were talking about! Fuck me for wanting my landscaping to look nice...mulberry trees are the bomb!

I do agree they can make good bonsai...but so can poison ivy...I don't want that in my landscaping either!

They grow from any left over root too, I have several in my yard (2 I'm planning to lift this spring for bonsai) one I left cuz I wanted to try the fruit but the squirrels eat them all before I get a chance I plan to air layer a fruiting branch tho(for bonsai). Invasive af. Forgot to rake leaves one autumn and now here we are... I think either I have white mulberry or the squirrels eat all the berries before they fully ripen but again they are a Chinese invasive species at least the ones I'm dealing with but hey take that up with the competition runner

 

[Forsoothe!]

Chop it off, drill a hole into the center of it and fill with Round Up. It doesn't take much. EOJ.

 

[Gabler]

They are native to North America and Asia. Explanation here. They have crossed here as weeping trees have been common for a long time. Birds love them and replant them everywhere. They are bulletproof and are good beginner trees because they grow fast and take work well. If you get them as weeds in the landscape you are lucky. I am lucky.

I had never thought to use Morus rubra for bonsai. I love eating the fruit when the berries ripen in mid summer, but they're so common, I think of them almost as weeds. I'll have to give the species a chance and collect a few this spring. I have access to literally hundreds of them, so I should be able to find something suitable. Do they respond well to air layering or stem cuttings? That would broaden my choices even more, not that it's hard to find good saplings.

 

[Gabler]

Also, how hard is it to find those little mud men who look like monkeys? How about weasels?

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

I had never thought to use Morus rubra for bonsai. I love eating the fruit when the berries ripen in mid summer, but they're so common, I think of them almost as weeds. I'll have to give the species a chance and collect a few this spring. I have access to literally hundreds of them, so I should be able to find something suitable. Do they respond well to air layering or stem cuttings? That would broaden my choices even more, not that it's hard to find good saplings.

I've gotten a few to strike as cuttings and I've read they air layer well, this spring will be m first attempt at air layering one tho but they root agressively when transplanted into bonsai soil wood imagine they layer easily

 

[Carol 83]

I had never thought to use Morus rubra for bonsai.

I have one I got from Zach Smith. His photo before I received it.

 

[James W.]

I had never thought to use Morus rubra for bonsai. I love eating the fruit when the berries ripen in mid summer, but they're so common, I think of them almost as weeds. I'll have to give the species a chance and collect a few this spring. I have access to literally hundreds of them, so I should be able to find something suitable. Do they respond well to air layering or stem cuttings? That would broaden my choices even more, not that it's hard to find good saplings.

Yes to air layers.
Cuttings are easy-peasy

 

[Forsoothe!]

I have one I got from Zach Smith. His photo before I received it. View attachment 347178

Show me spring!

 

[luvinthemountains]

The eight mature mulberries in my front yard are all fruitless. Too bad and yet not. They are nice shade trees and I managed to layer a large chunk of branch last year that is now in a training pot. Yours looks like a nice start, @Forsoothe!

 

[Forsoothe!]

The eight mature mulberries in my front yard are all fruitless. Too bad and yet not. They are nice shade trees and I managed to layer a large chunk of branch last year that is now in a training pot. Yours looks like a nice start, @Forsoothe!

Someone bought those intentionally, and they are hard to find. They make wonderful shade trees with all the benefits of tough, good growing trees without the purple birdshit on everything.

 

[Forsoothe!]

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