Mulberry disappointment

[Eckhoffw]

There’s a trail walk close to our house where I’ve been eyeing up a mulberry -for the last three years- close to the path.

This tree had obviously been stunted by damage and lack of sunlight.

I had thought about collecting it, but didn’t feel right about it unless I got a permit

Today I walked by it and noticed that it had been recently chopped -along with a bunch of other trees for clearing.

So.. I decided to dig it out.

Disappointed in the lack of fine roots near the trunk. I potted it up deep anyways. I give this a 5% chance of survival. bummer. I believe this small tree is very old.
This cigarette sized branch shows about 7 years.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

There's others here with a lot more experience collecting trees than me, but I would figure most wild trees growing in the ground don't have a lot of fine roots near the trunk.
White mulberries are like weeds. I'd guess its survival chance at better than 5%

 

[Eckhoffw]

but I would figure most wild trees growing in the ground don't have a lot of fine roots near the trunk.
White mulberries are like weeds. I'd guess its survival chance at better than 5%

That’s a very good point. If I would’ve dug a whole around 4 feet diameter instead of 2 feet, I may have gotten more fine roots. Just didn’t want to make a home that large for it.

 

[BrianBay9]

It's a mulberry. You probably can't kill it with a flame thrower. With good care I'd give it an 80% chance.

 

[Eckhoffw]

It's a mulberry. You probably can't kill it with a flame thrower. With good care I'd give it an 80% chance.

Really? Ok. Thank you. I will give it good winter care

 

[MMJNICE]

Really? Ok. Thank you. I will give it good winter care

So I have mulberries all over the yard because I have a large wild mulberry about 5 yards from my property line. They grow almost as much a Hackberry trees in these parts of Ohio. I have collected or should say tried to collect probably 5 to 8 with only 3 making it past summer time. They tend to have long running root systems with very little feeder roots close to the trunk. So yea a mulberry in the ground is very and I mean very hard to kill but after you dig them up and they're isn't much feeder roots next to the trunk like your stumps it's next to impossible to nurse them back to health. Sorry about the the bad news . I give your tree about a 25% chance and that's if you do everything right with after care of living. They do make amazing bonsai tho. I have my best success with smaller trees. And btw your tree probably is about 5 years old they grow stupid fast in the ground. And looking how bad the roots are chewed up i give it about a 10% chance of living. Anyway the leaves really reduced extremely well from fist size to penny size in one or two growing seasons. They have Zero diseases that seem to effect them heavily from my experience and the dreaded spider mits have pretty much left them along so far. So it's definitely a winner in my book. I have a very nice little shohin I've been developing for a couple of years.... it's just a small sapling but it's very well ramified with all the branches being wired out as they formed and the leaves are positively tiny now that its in a little bonsai pot. I'll post if I can reach it in my over stuffed greenhouse.

 

[shohin_branches]

I have a lot of experience with mulberry from when I was a kid. It will survive. Last spring I had squirrels rip this mulberry out of the pot and I have no clue how long it was exposed but the damn thing survived. The hardest part of working with mulberry is controlling coarse growth and correcting branch angles early.

 

[MMJNICE]

I have a lot of experience with mulberry from when I was a kid. It will survive. Last spring I had squirrels rip this mulberry out of the pot and I have no clue how long it was exposed but the damn thing survived. The hardest part of working with mulberry is controlling coarse growth and correcting branch angles early.

View attachment 578390

Your tree probably survived because it's got so many feeder roots next to the trunk. I've also had better luck with smaller trees as well but trees of the size he posted and with the large roots all chewed up and zero feeders he's definitely got the odds stacked against him. If this was a maple or even an hornbeam i would say it's got a good chance of surviving. Every mulberry I've collected that looked like his picture died by mid summer if it even made it that long. He really must take after care very seriously if he wants this tree to survive. Most slash and grab tree's like this have little time involved so the chances of really good aftercare like for a prized tree is really not on the menu for this tree.... ..
At least that's why most of my trees that looked like that when dug didn't have much of a chance for living. But regardless miracles do happen so . I even cleaned the ragged roots with a grafting knife still not dice.

 

[MMJNICE]

Here is a picture of this mulberry tree got it three years ago it was i tiny little sapling and still is ,,,but I like to keep some trees as small as I can keep them just to see how little they stay. Next season will be growing season number 4 with it. The last picture shows how close the internodes have gotten these last two years. The leaves are super tiny about the sizes of a nickel and average leaf size is about quarter size.

 

[shohin_branches]

Your tree probably survived because it's got so many feeder roots next to the trunk. I've also had better luck with smaller trees as well but trees of the size he posted and with the large roots all chewed up and zero feeders he's definitely got the odds stacked against him. If this was a maple or even an hornbeam i would say it's got a good chance of surviving. Every mulberry I've collected that looked like his picture died by mid summer if it even made it that long. He really must take after care very seriously if he wants this tree to survive. Most slash and grab tree's like this have little time involved so the chances of really good aftercare like for a prized tree is really not on the menu for this tree.... ..
At least that's why most of my trees that looked like that when dug didn't have much of a chance for living. But regardless miracles do happen so . I even cleaned the ragged roots with a grafting knife still not dice.

Do you see how all of the feeder roots come from one spot? That's from when I cut the taproot off in spring of 2023. I basically took all the roots off.

These roots were also completely dry. According to the security footage the plant was barerooted for about two hours. It will be interesting to see what remains of the roots next time I repot it.