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Artem Levsha 05.20.2014 | 62405

Varietal mulberry can be propagated in several ways: seeds, cuttings and grafting. Choose the one that suits you best.

Seed propagation

Seed propagation is the easiest way to propagate mulberries of any type. It is enough to take a handful of full-fledged ripe fruits of your favorite variety, place them in a container and place them in a sunny place before fermentation begins. Afterwards, rub the seeds well in water with your hands, drain the raised “cap” from the empty shells. Then pour water again, pass through a fine sieve (the seeds are also small), immediately wipe and rinse the mixture until you obtain clean seeds freed from pulp. Then they need to be dried well, put in a paper bag and stored in a dry place until spring. 1.5 months before the sowing season, moistened seeds are placed on the top shelf of the refrigerator for stratification. Unstratified seeds are simply kept in water for 3 days.

Mulberry seeds are sown in fertile soil in April-May to a depth of 1 cm. Choose a bright place for the bed. Plantings need frequent watering (but not flooding). It is important to ensure that the “young animals” are not damaged by return spring frosts. Tender shoots are subsequently protected from direct sunlight. Dense plantings are thinned out at the fifth leaf stage. Unthickened ones are left here until the age of two (for growing).

The characteristics of the mother plant are not transmitted through seed propagation. Such seedlings, as a rule, serve as rootstocks (wildstock) for grafting varietal mulberries.

Propagation by green cuttings

The best way to propagate mulberries in the summer (good to combine with sanitary pruning) is green cuttings. In June, from the middle part of an intact, healthy herbaceous (soft) shoot current year cut cuttings with 2-3 buds. The lower leaves are removed, and half of the blades are left on the rest for the subsequent development and growth of the cuttings. The cuttings are planted to a depth of 3 cm in a greenhouse (or an improvised one on a windowsill) under a light film, where high humidity is created for high-quality rooting. Care - moderate watering, frequent ventilation (increases as it grows), fertilizing with mineral fertilizers (the first one is a month later). As soon as new shoots appear (after a month), the cuttings have taken root. The resulting seedlings exactly replicate the mother plant.

Propagation by semi-lignified cuttings

Mulberries are propagated in July by cuttings with wood that is not quite ripe (looks brownish), but is no longer soft. Preparation, planting, care are identical to the actions for green cuttings. The difference is the longer rooting time - these cuttings will need 1.5 months.

Propagation by lignified cuttings

For it, completely lignified shoots of a healthy varietal productive plant are used, taken from the outer part of a well-lit crown. The time for harvesting cuttings is the period of leaf fall (before the onset of stable cold weather). Leafless cuttings (18 cm), treated with a root formation stimulator (heteroauxin, root), are planted in a well-prepared open bed so that aboveground part the cutting was approximately 5 cm. At this point they can grow up to two years of age. Next, the strengthened seedlings need to be planted in a permanent place.

As an option: cuttings prepared in the fall are placed in a moist substrate, stored in a cool place (cellar, refrigerator, buried in the garden bed) until sap flow begins (bud awakening), then planted vertically on the garden bed. These cuttings with two developed buds can be used for cutting grafting (copulation).

Reproduction by top grafting (copulation)

Mulberries can be grafted using almost all known methods. Copulation (grafting a cutting with a cutting) is considered easy and successful for amateur gardeners. Top grafting (with cutting off the top of the rootstock) - copulation - can be done indoors in winter or in early spring: cuttings grafted in advance (before sap flow) take root faster.

Of the many copulation methods, we will consider two when the rootstocks and scions are in deep dormancy (the bark is not separated).
Simple copying. This is when equal (the length is 4 times the diameter of the cutting) oblique cuts (6 cm by 1.5 cm in diameter) are made on a scion and rootstock of equal thickness for a clear joining of the cambial layers. Sections are made between the kidneys. Having aligned the sections, the junction along the length (without gaps) is covered with a dense bandage made of soft polyethylene. It is important to avoid displacement, otherwise fusion will be much worse.

Improved copulation with tongue. The difference between such grafting and simple copulation is that the oblique cuts on the grafted parts are supplemented by parallel cuts (notches), which overlap each other when joined, forming a strong mechanical connection of the tissues of the cuttings. This is done like this: having retreated 1/3 from the end of the cut, on the rootstock down, on the scion up, they begin to make a cut and lead it to half of the oblique cut. As a result, tongue-shaped cuts are formed on oblique cuts of the scion and rootstock - with their help, closer alignment occurs.

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Growing on personal plot Mulberries are a responsible process. After all, you need to choose a suitable place for rooting, fertilize the soil, and care for the plant throughout the growing season. But how the mulberry (aka mulberry) reproduces is a question that should be considered especially carefully.

Seeds

One of the most popular methods of propagating mulberries is by rooting grains. Using this method, you can get fruit specimens that will not resemble their “parents” in their characteristics. That is why technology is used to breed new mulberry varieties.

Domestic gardeners living in the northern part of the country often prefer this method of rooting mulberries, since the seedlings acclimatize much faster to the conditions of the region. Another purpose for which mulberry seeds can be sown into the substrate is to obtain rootstocks of varietal seedlings.

If in most cases the propagation of a tree by seeds is rarely relied on (after all, they germinate rather slowly), then in the situation with a mulberry plant, you can safely plant grains. This is advantageous in the sense that they do not need to be stratified, kept in a humid environment, or otherwise prepared for rooting.

As soon as you collect the seed, it can be immediately sown in the ground. If you do this in the summer, before the onset of cold weather, the seedlings will not only germinate, but will also become noticeably stronger. It is recommended to move small green seedlings to a basement or cellar for the winter. To prevent them from freezing before spring, be sure to cover the soil in which they grow with sawdust.

You can also leave mulberry sprouts in an open space or somewhere on the veranda. However, in this case, be sure to sprinkle their substrate with dry grass and leaves.

Planting mulberry seeds can also be done in the spring. To do this, you need to follow the following recommendations:

• pick several berries from the tree, mash them thoroughly, rinse to get rid of the pulp;
• dry the seed material and then place it in fabric bags;
• with the arrival of spring, you will need to place the grains in a container with water or a solution of nutritional biostimulants for growth. The duration of such a procedure should be from 5 hours to a day;
• sow in boxes or other containers with soil.

Knowing how mulberries reproduce by seeds, you can take care of young seedlings correctly.

Video “Rules for planting mulberries”

From this video you will learn how to properly plant a mulberry tree.

Green cuttings

IN summer period Caring for mulberries is no less important than during the rest of the year. Special attention Gardeners pay attention to sanitary pruning of plants. The same procedure can be combined with mulberry propagation by young green cuttings. Carefully inspect your tree, choose healthy, strong branches. It is recommended to cut the shoots from the middle part of the shoot. It is desirable that each such shoot contains about 2-3 buds.

The resulting cuttings must be rooted in the substrate to a depth of about 3 cm. Cover the top of the future seedlings with plastic wrap. This way you will create a greenhouse effect for it.

Caring for mulberry sprouts at first is quite standard: be sure to spray them with water, open the film slightly so that the branches are saturated with air. At the same time, a month after the sprouts emerge from the seeds, it is recommended to feed the soil with mineral mixtures.

Full rooting will occur if new shoots appear on your cuttings. It is worth using the method of garden mulberry cuttings if you want to get a plant that completely corresponds to the mother specimen. New varieties are not being developed using this agricultural technology.

Semi-lignified cuttings

The next mulberry pruning in the summer is an excellent opportunity to propagate the tree with semi-lignified cuttings. The thing is that in July strong shoots appear on the plant, but they have not yet had time to become woody. It is these sprouts that should be cut from the mulberry for rooting in mid-summer. The technology for caring for the resulting seedlings is practically no different from cultivating green cuttings in containers. However, in this case, the procedure will take a slightly longer period: about a month and a half.

Lignified cuttings

Planting a home plot with mulberries is a worthy choice for the domestic gardener. However, first of all, you need to take care of the sprouts that you cut directly for rooting. It is believed that lignified cuttings do not take root very well in the substrate, so the effectiveness of this method is low.

The shoots are cut already in October-November, when the leaves are actively falling. Each of the cuttings should be about 20-25 cm in length. Then they must be kept in a root former solution. The final stage is to place the cuttings in plastic bags and tie them tightly. It is recommended to keep them indoors at a temperature of +20…+25 °C.

Top grafting

Mulberry can reproduce not only by cuttings or seeds. Another method is top grafting or copulation. It is recommended to use it in winter or early spring - before the process of sap flow begins.

It is necessary to make identical oblique cuts on the scion and rootstock to connect them tightly. The joint of the cuttings must be carefully wrapped with soft polyethylene.

Remember that you need to connect the sprouts very tightly, because if they are displaced, they may not take root.

It is not difficult to propagate mulberries at home if you follow the key recommendations.

IN middle lane and the southern regions of Russia, mulberry is widespread, also known as the mulberry tree; mulberry, a tall and durable tree, lives 200-300 years. The crown is tall and spreading, highly developed root system, does not require special care or soil selection when planting. China is considered the birthplace of origin, while in the republics

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Central Asia also extract maximum benefit from this plant. Fruits with healing properties, are used by people, the leaves serve as food for silkworms, and the wood is used to make musical instruments or wooden crafts.

The exact classification of the plant is complicated by the number of hybrids bred - more than 200 are described in various sources, but only 17 of them are considered valid according to various classifications. On the territory of Russia, two types are mainly widespread: white mulberry - the region of origin is East Asia - and black mulberry - originally from South-West Asia.

A distinctive feature of these species is the color difference not in the fruits, but in the bark - in the first case it is light gray, in the second it is much darker. Black mulberry fruits have a more pronounced taste - this explains the preference when choosing a variety; the white variety is more frost-resistant.

The decorative form of the white species is the weeping mulberry, bred in Italy. The height of an adult tree is up to 5 meters, crown diameter is 3-4 m, characteristic feature- thin, long branches hanging to the ground. Planted for landscaping urban areas, it is resistant to dust and air polluted by industrial emissions.

The crown is formed by spring pruning; sanitary pruning is recommended in the fall, before the onset of frost. Unpretentious in the choice of soil, the developed root system strengthens the slopes and sandy soil. The fruits are smaller than cultural species, tastes sweet and sour, black, white, or Pink colour.

Mulberry planting

The beginning of the process is choosing a place to plant the seedling. It is recommended to consider the following factors:

• longevity of the plant. It is necessary to select a place in such a way as to ensure free growth and development of the tree throughout the life of the garden. Otherwise, in a few years you will have to cut down an adult fruit-bearing tree if it is out of place;
• illumination of the area. Despite its unpretentiousness, it is recommended to plant mulberry in sunny places - it is a light-loving crop. In a shaded area, the selected variety will not be able to fully demonstrate its qualities;

• swampiness of the soil. Mulberry grows even on saline soils, but does not tolerate wetlands. It is necessary to choose a place with soil that provides drainage. It is advisable to plant on sandy slopes to further consolidate the soil layer;
• distance to the fence of the site or building. The crown diameter of an adult tree reaches 10 m. By regular pruning this size can be reduced to 4-6 m.

When planting, it is important to know that the mulberry tree can be female or male. Male trees growing alone do not bear fruit. To avoid mistakes when choosing, it is recommended to purchase seedlings from the nursery that have begun to bear fruit.

By planting several plants, the risk of acquiring same-sex plants is reduced. When buying a seedling on the market, you run the risk of getting the wrong type of cultivated tree that you are counting on, and you will find out the result 3-5 years later, after the first fruiting.

Which planting time is better, spring or autumn, is a controversial question, and there is no clear answer. Each option has positive sides. Spring planting is characterized by favorable temperature conditions; during autumn planting, a plant that has successfully overwintered in the spring begins to develop and grow without delay.

It is important to understand that during transplantation the seedling is subjected to stress and does not grow for a certain time - it takes root. By planting in the fall, we give the opportunity for a long rest period before the growing season begins, but there is a risk of death of a weak plant in winter period. The choice depends on temperature regime climate zone.

The holes are prepared in advance - 1-2 weeks in advance, the recommended size is 70x70x50 cm - may vary depending on the size of the root system. The dug up soil is mixed with a bucket of humus or compost, half is poured into the hole, and a support peg is driven in the middle. The mulberry is placed in the hole, planting and subsequent care of the seedling are carried out.

Mulberries: cultivation and care

Mulberry does not require an individual approach. If you like mulberries, planting and care are identical to other plants:

• Regular watering is important for young plants in the first 2-3 years after planting, then the roots independently feed on ground moisture. It is recommended to stop watering from the beginning of July - this helps the tree to survive winter frosts and temperature changes;
• complex fertilizing. Mineral and organic fertilizers are introduced in the spring into the soil around the trunk - with a diameter of 1 m. Regular fertilizing is recommended after the start of fruiting and is carried out in the spring. During the growing season, one feeding is enough;

• formative, sanitary and rejuvenating pruning. It is recommended to form a tree with a trunk of 1-1.5 m, while the crown height will be 3-4 m. The plant tolerates spring formative pruning and winter frosts, but when the temperature drops to -30 degrees, annual shoots freeze. In regions with such winters, the shoots that grow in the spring form a bush; as a result, the tree acquires a bush-like shape, and only winter sanitary pruning is applied to it. For this reason, mulberries in the Moscow region are more often tall bush, not a tree. When crushing fruits and reducing the amount of harvest, rejuvenating pruning is carried out. It is recommended to shorten the branches by one third, thin out the crown of old branches;
• disease prevention and pest protection. Despite the plant's resistance to diseases, preventive treatments with fungicides and insecticides are recommended in the first half of April. It can be treated with a three percent solution of Bordeaux mixture or a solution of urea, which simultaneously destroys pest larvae and is nitrogen fertilizer;
• periodic loosening of the soil in the tree trunk circle and removal of weeds. Provided that there is a cultivated lawn growing in the garden, this procedure can be omitted.

Mulberry propagation

Two methods are used: vegetative - the use of layering of root shoots, green and lignified cuttings and seed. Valuable cultivars are obtained through grafting different ways, while white mulberry is used as a rootstock.

It is important that when propagating from seeds, the varietal qualities of the mulberry, the fruits of which you used, are not transferred to the young shoot.

Seed method. To make it easier to extract seeds from fresh fruits, you need to place them in a container, fill them with water and place them in a warm, lit place to begin the fermentation process. Then mash the fruits without removing them from the water and strain through a fine sieve, rinse the remaining mass until complete cleansing seeds from pulp.

The resulting seeds are laid out on a gauze napkin to dry and stored until spring or sown in open ground in the fall, the recommended time is mid or late October.

It is important that when planting in spring, the seeds need stratification. The seedlings are watered regularly and thinned out if necessary. In the fall, mature plants can be replanted; they will begin to bear fruit in 5-6 years.

Reproduction by layering. The method is used in case of freezing of the branches of an adult tree in winter. In the spring, the central trunk of the tree is cut out, and during the growing season, young, strong shoots grow from the left stump. In autumn, the growth bends to the ground, is fixed and dug in. By next fall, you receive seedlings ready for transplanting that fully retain the varietal qualities of the mother tree.

Propagation by cuttings. Depending on the condition of the cuttings, they distinguish between: propagation by green, semi-lignified and lignified cuttings. Green cuttings are used for summer propagation. Cuttings are taken in June from a healthy, strong annual shoot.

It is recommended to leave 2-3 buds, length - 10-15 cm, the lower cut is oblique, the upper cut is at a right angle. The lower leaves are cut off, the upper one is shortened by half, the lower cut must be treated with a solution that stimulates root formation.

Important - the cuttings are planted in a separate box, at an oblique angle to a depth of 3-5 cm and watered abundantly. The box is placed in a greenhouse under a film to create increased humidity.

Care consists of regular watering and periodic ventilation. The appearance of new shoots on the cuttings indicates that the planted plant has successfully taken root.

When using semi-lignified cuttings, the technology remains the same, the difference is in the period of cutting the cuttings and the time required for their rooting. Planting is carried out in July, and rooting will take 1.5-2 months.

Important - after the appearance of young shootsthe box with seedlings must be gradually adapted to the open space; transplantation to a permanent place is carried out in the spring.

The peculiarity of propagation by lignified cuttings is that they are harvested in the fall, after the tree has completely shed its leaves. The cuttings are treated with a composition that stimulates root formation and planted in open ground. The method is rarely used due to its low survival rate. When propagated by cuttings, the varietal qualities of the donor are preserved.

Grafting is not a type of propagation for the reason that we do not increase the number of trees, but change certain qualities of an already growing one. The reasons may be different - the purchased seedling turned out to be male and does not bear fruit, the desire to improve the quality of the fruit or to have several varieties on one tree.

To the question - how to grow the variety of mulberries you need, there is only one answer - graft yourself or ask an experienced gardener for help. White mulberry is used as a rootstock; it is recommended to use seedlings grown by seed at the age of 2 years. The technology of mulberry grafting is no different from other trees; it is important to take into account the time of the process.

The peculiarity of the choice of varieties for this region is determined by climatic conditions - 30-degree winter frosts and insufficient snow cover, so the plants must be frost-resistant. The second negative factor is the short warm period, which affects the process of fruit ripening and yield in general.

Black mulberry, despite its quality indicators, is not suitable for the region due to low frost resistance. White mulberry proper care winters successfully and bears fruit, we will dwell on its varieties in more detail:

• Black Baroness - tall, spherical crown, moderately dense, black juicy fruits up to 35 mm long, stable fruiting;
• Vladimirskaya - height more than 6 m, wide crown, possibility of giving a bush-like shape, red fruits up to 30 mm long;

• Smuglyanka - medium height, wide, pyramidal crown, black fruits up to 35 mm long;
• Staromoskovskaya - tall, spherical crown, it is possible to give it a bush-like shape, purple fruits up to 30 mm long;
• Ukrainian-6 - medium-sized, spherical crown, black fruits up to 40 mm long have no aroma, high yield;
• Royal - medium height, spherical crown, black fruits up to 30 mm long;
• Smolenskaya pink - tall, dense crown, pink fruits up to 25 mm, early variety;
• Weeping - height up to 5 m, has hanging thin long branches, edible fruits black, the purpose of planting is landscape design.

Benefits and medicinal properties

Mulberry fruits contain vitamins and microelements beneficial for the body. Fresh juice from the berries is used as an anti-inflammatory agent for colds.

Juice diluted with warm boiled water is used for gargling as a bactericidal agent for sore throats. A decoction prepared from mulberry leaves has expectorant, diuretic, and disinfectant properties. To treat skin diseases and burns, ointments are prepared based on mulberry bark.

The greatest benefits and harms from the mulberry plant are in case of individual intolerance. It is not recommended to take fresh fruits for hypertensive patients, diabetics and people prone to diarrhea. In general, mulberry is a means of increasing the body's resistance to various diseases and strengthening the immune system.

Finally

Knowing the planting technology and care rules, all you have to do is choose the right variety that matches the region and purchase a seedling. Thanks to the simple care of the plant, in 5-6 years you will be able to appreciate positive traits mulberries.

Mulberry can be propagated by the generative (seed) method, as well as vegetatively - by grafting, suckers, lignified and green cuttings, and also layering.

How to grow from seeds

Seeds should be removed from the fruits of the current season around mid to last days October, to do this you need to remove all the pulp. Then they are immersed for 1–2 hours in a solution of a growth stimulating agent (for example, Zircon or Epin). After this they are sown in open ground. If you start sowing at the beginning of the spring, the seeds will need to be stratified for 4–8 weeks beforehand. It is possible not to stratify the seeds, but in this case they will need pre-sowing preparation. For this purpose in spring time immediately before sowing, the seeds must be immersed in cold water for 24 hours, then they are taken out and kept for the same amount of time in very warm water(from 50 to 53 degrees).

For the garden bed, choose a well-lit, unshaded place. Then you need to prepare the grooves and spill them with water, having previously dissolved fertilizers intended for fruit and berry crops. The seeds of this plant are small, and they need to be sown as rarely as possible. They should be buried 30–50 mm into the soil. The bed should be well watered when the seeds are embedded in the soil, and then its surface should be covered with a layer of mulch. In autumn, the mulch layer is made thicker than in spring, since in winter the seeds may freeze. The emerging seedlings need to be systematically watered, weeded and fed. To the offensive autumn period grown and strengthened seedlings can be planted, and depending on the variety of mulberry, the distance between the plants should be 3–5 meters. A plant grown from seeds begins to bear fruit after 5 or 6 years. U this method reproduction has one significant drawback, namely, a tree grown from seeds inherits only part of the varietal characteristics of the parent plant or does not inherit them at all. In this regard, seedlings grown in this way are most often used as rootstocks for budding.

Mulberry propagation by offspring

If very cold winter If the mulberry tree is severely damaged by frost, its developed root shoots can be used to replace the frozen tree. A crown is gradually formed on this offspring. Unnecessary shoots should be removed, and if desired, they can be removed from the soil along with the root system, the stems can be shortened by 1/3 and then used as seedlings. This method is good because the offspring are able to completely preserve the varietal characteristics of the parent plant.

If the tree is rooted, then green cuttings can be used to propagate it. But the complexity of this method is that you will need a special installation that can create a fine water suspension in the form of fog in the greenhouse. Cuttings are taken in June–July, at which time the plant experiences active mulberry growth. Cuttings are cut from the stems, which should reach 15 to 20 centimeters in length and have 2 or 3 buds. They are planted in the greenhouse at an angle of 45 degrees. In very loose soil, the lower cut of the cutting should be inserted to a depth of 30 mm. On the cutting you need to leave only a couple of upper leaf plates, which are shortened by ½ part. It is necessary to ensure that the greenhouse has an environment of high humidity. Young shoots and a powerful root system will appear in the plants by autumn, but their planting in open soil should be postponed until the next spring.

Mulberries can also be propagated by semi-lignified cuttings, which are harvested at the same time as green ones. Such cuttings must be rooted in the same way as green ones. The disadvantage of such propagation is that the rooting of semi-lignified cuttings occurs relatively slowly. A tree grown in this way inherits absolutely all varietal characteristics of the parent plant.

You can use anything to graft a mulberry tree. known methods. However, experienced gardeners recommend opting for copulation (cut grafting). If simple copulation is used, then the scion and rootstock are spliced, the thickness of which should be the same. On the rootstock and scion between two buds, you need to make oblique cuts, and their length should be equal to the diameter of the plants being joined, multiplied by 4 (for example, if the diameter of the rootstock and scion is 1.2 cm, then the length of the cuts will be 4.8 cm ). Align the sections together and wrap them with any elastic material or budding tape.

Improved tongue copulation is also used. To do this, you need to make cuts on the cuttings and rootstock in the same way as described above, after which they need to be supplemented with tongue cuts. It is necessary to retreat 1/3 of its length from the end of the cut, then a cut is made to the middle of the cut on the scion up, and down on the rootstock. The places of the cuts must be placed next to each other, after which the tongues are wound in such a way that they are aligned very closely. At the very end, the grafting site needs to be wrapped with tape.

Mulberry (lat. Morus), or Mulberry tree, or mulberry- a deciduous tree that belongs to the genus of the Mulberry family and, according to data from various sources, has from 17 to 24 species. Representatives of this genus are widespread in the subtropical and temperate zones of North America, Africa and Asia. The leaves of white mulberry, one of the most popular species of the genus, are a source of food for silkworm larvae, whose pupae are used to produce natural silk. In Russia, mulberry was already known under Ivan the Terrible - a specially created silk-weaving manufactory cultivated the most delicate fabric for the royal court, and Peter I, due to the high value of the tree, banned its felling on the territory of the state. The elastic, dense and heavy wood of the mulberry tree is considered very valuable - in Central Asia, musical instruments, crafts, and barrels are made from it.

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Planting and caring for mulberries (in brief)

• Landing: in April or September-October.
• Bloom: in the middle of May.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: any, except swampy and dry sandy.
• Watering: in very dry weather from spring to July, then watering is stopped. If it rains in spring, watering is not needed.
• Feeding: They also apply only from spring to July: in the spring - nitrogen, in the summer - potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.
• Trimming: from April to early May - formative and sanitary, in October - sanitary.
• Reproduction: green and lignified cuttings, layering, grafting, offspring, less often - seeds.
• Pests: spider mites, American butterflies, mulberry moths and Comstock scale insects.
• Diseases: tinder fungus, powdery mildew, cylindrosporiosis, or brown leaf spot, bacteriosis and curly small leaves.
• Properties: is a medicinal plant.

Read more about growing mulberries below.

Mulberry tree - description

The mulberry tree grows very quickly in its youth, but gradually growth slows down and eventually the plant reaches a height of no more than 15 m. The leaves of the mulberry are simple, often lobed, jagged along the edges, alternate. Small, spiked mulberry flowers can be male or female (dioecious), but on some (monoecious plants) both can open at the same time. The fleshy fruits of the mulberry, 2-3 cm long, are false berries, connected together by drupes of different colors - from white to dark purple or almost black. Mulberry is completely unpretentious and can grow without any care. The tree begins to bear fruit in its fifth year of life. Mulberries live up to 200 years, but there are mulberries that are already five centuries old.

In cultivation, mainly two types of mulberries are grown - white and black, and they are distinguished not by the color of the fruits, but by the color of the bark: the branches of the white mulberry have light shade The bark is yellowish, cream or white, and the branches of black mulberry have much darker bark. Today, mulberry is as popular among gardeners as the time-tested apple, cherry, plum and others fruit trees, have long settled in our gardens, which is why we offer you information on how to plant and care for mulberries, propagate mulberries by cuttings and other methods, grow and care for mulberries in the Moscow region, protect the mulberry tree from diseases and pests, and also tell you tell you why mulberries are useful and which varieties are most popular in amateur gardening.

Mulberry planting

When to plant mulberries

Growing mulberry begins with its planting, which is best done in April, before the start of sap flow, or in September-October, before the start of the rainy season. Experienced gardeners prefer autumn planting: if the plant survives the winter, it means it will have a long life.

In order to correctly determine the place for the mulberry, you need to know its preferences. It is photophilous and requires protection from cold winds; it does not like dry sandy soil, saline or waterlogged soil, and groundwater should not be higher than 1.5 m. Trees with male flowers do not bear fruit on their own, but you will only be able to find out what gender your seedling is after 4-5 years. Therefore, to avoid unpleasant surprises, purchase three-year-old mulberry seedlings that have already produced their first offspring.

Planting mulberries in autumn

The size of the planting pit, which must be prepared at least a couple of weeks before planting, depends on the root system of the seedling: it should be located freely in the hole. The average dimensions of the pit are 50x50x50 cm. If the soil on the site is poor, the depth of the hole should be greater, because 5-7 kg of rotted manure or compost mixed with 100 g of superphosphate, which is covered with a layer of soil, is placed at its bottom so that there is no contact of the fertilizer with roots of the seedling. After two weeks, the mulberries are planted: the roots of the seedling are lowered into the hole, straightened and dug in, slightly shaking the stem so that there are no voids left in the soil. After planting, the surface in the tree trunk circle is compacted, watered with two buckets of water, and when it is absorbed, the tree trunk circle is mulched. If your seedling is too thin and fragile, before planting it, drive a support into the bottom of the hole, to which, after planting is completed, tie the tree, and if you plant the mulberry in heavy clay soil, first place broken bricks at the bottom of the pit as a drainage layer.

How to plant mulberries in spring

Spring planting of mulberries is no different from autumn, except that holes are dug in the fall, a fertile mixture is placed in them and left until spring, and planting is completed in April.

How to grow mulberries

Growing mulberries and caring for them requires performing the usual procedures for a gardener - watering, loosening the soil in the tree trunk, removing weeds, fertilizing, pruning and protecting from diseases and pests.

Mulberry processing

In order to minimize the risk of mulberry disease or pest damage, preventive treatments are carried out on the tree and trunk circle fungicides and insecticides. Best time for such measures - the beginning of April, when the buds are still dormant, and October, when the plant has already stopped growing. As a remedy for diseases and pests, you can use a three percent solution of Bordeaux mixture or Nitrafen. The best preparation for spring treatment is a seven percent urea solution, which will not only destroy pathogenic microelements and insect larvae that have overwintered in the bark of the tree and in the soil underneath, but will also feed the plant with nitrogen fertilizer, which mulberry so needs at this time of year.

Watering mulberries

To increase the frost resistance of mulberry, it is watered from spring to July, but only in very dry weather, and then watering is stopped. If spring is rainy, you don’t have to water the mulberries at all.

Mulberry feeding

During the same time period - from early spring to July - mulberries are fed. In spring, the nitrogen component should predominate in fertilizing, and in summer - phosphates and potassium fertilizers.

Mulberry in the Moscow region and Moscow

Despite the fact that the Moscow region climate is not very suitable for cultivation southern plants, in the Moscow region, grapes and even apricots have long been successfully grown, so mulberry is no longer a curiosity in the middle zone, because under the snow it can withstand frosts down to -30 ºC. A tree can freeze only in a snowless winter at a temperature of -7-10 ºC. That is why, when planting mulberries in this area, the root collar needs to be slightly buried in the soil.

Since the length of daylight hours in the Moscow region does not meet the requirements of the culture, the Moscow region mulberry has two growing seasons per year - spring and autumn. Its amazing ability to form cork tissue between the mature part of the shoot and its immature part allows the tree to shed non-viable sections of shoots in the fall and overwinter normally. Therefore, in autumn in Moscow and the Moscow region you can observe not only the fall of mulberry leaves, but also the fall of shoots. In all other respects, growing mulberries in the Moscow region is no different from growing them in more southern regions.

Mulberry in Siberia

In order to grow mulberry in Siberia, you need to increase its winter hardiness. This is not an easy task, but perseverance and determination overcome any obstacles. For those who are not afraid of difficulties, articles by experienced gardeners V. Shalamov and G. Kazanin will help in this matter.

Mulberry pruning

When to prune mulberries

Like any other plant, it is better to prune the mulberry during a period of partial or complete dormancy. The plant tolerates pruning the least painfully in the spring, before the sap begins to flow - it is from the end of April to the beginning of May, until the buds on the trees bloom, that formative and rejuvenating pruning of the mulberry is carried out. Sanitary pruning is best done in the fall, after leaf fall, at an air temperature of at least -10 ºC.

How to trim mulberries

Each type of mulberry requires its own approach to pruning. Pruning weeping mulberries consists mainly of thinning the crown and shortening shoots and branches, and you don’t have to worry at all that the pruning was too strong - this type of mulberry recovers very quickly.

Pruning stamped mulberry is aimed at forming a crown - a thick spherical cap or a falling cascade of branches is formed on a long trunk without branches.

The most difficult thing is to form a decorative mulberry and regularly maintain the original shape of the plant in the future.

Mulberry pruning in spring

In a young tree, the trunk at a height of up to 1.5 m is cleared of branches so that in adulthood the branches do not fall to the ground. You can save the central conductor and allow it to grow to 5-6 m, removing competing shoots. Or you can let the crown develop naturally. If you want to grow a short tree for your own convenience, cut off the apical shoot at a height of 135-170 cm and form a skeleton, like a dwarf apple tree, from 8-10 branches, then maintain the shape of the crown by plucking and trimming unnecessary shoots. Drooping branches should not be cut, just prop them up.

Mulberry pruning in autumn

After leaf fall, it’s time to prepare the mulberry for winter, and one of the necessary procedures is sanitary pruning, during which all diseased, broken, dried, frostbitten, too thin shoots and branches growing inside the crown are removed. And most likely, you will not have to carry out sanitary pruning every year.

Mulberry propagation

How to propagate mulberries

Mulberry propagation occurs by seeds and vegetatively - green and lignified cuttings, grafting, layering and suckers.

Mulberry seed propagation

Mulberry seeds from the current year's harvest in the middle or end of October are cleared of pulp and, after soaking for 1-2 hours in a solution of a growth stimulant - Epin or Zircon, are sown in the ground. If you decide to postpone sowing to early spring, you will have to first stratify the seeds for 1-2 months. You can replace stratification with pre-sowing preparation - in the spring, before sowing, keep the seeds for a day in cold water, and then for a day in water at a temperature of 50-53 ºC.

In an unshaded, sunny garden bed, make furrows and water them with water, adding fertilizers for fruit and berry crops. Sow small mulberry seeds as rarely as you can, to a depth of 3-5 cm, and after planting the seeds in the ground, water generously and mulch the bed. When sowing in autumn, the layer of mulch should be thicker than when sowing in spring, so that the seeds do not die in winter. Caring for seedlings consists of regular watering, fertilizing and weeding the beds. By autumn, the seedlings will be large enough and developed enough to be planted at a distance of 3 to 5 m, depending on the mulberry variety. After 5-6 years, mulberries from seeds will begin to bear fruit. The disadvantage of seed propagation is that seedlings may not inherit or not completely inherit the characteristics of the mother plant, so they are most often used as rootstocks for budding.

Mulberry propagation by offspring

If the mulberry freezes in the cold winter, the dead plant can be replaced by a well-developed root shoot of the plant, on which a crown can be formed over time. Excess shoots are cut out or, after digging up the roots and shortening the shoot by one third, they are used as seedlings. The offspring retain the characteristics of the mother plant completely.

Mulberry propagation by cuttings

Own-rooted mulberries can be propagated by green cuttings, but propagation in this way can only be done using an installation that forms a fine water suspension in the form of mist in the greenhouse. In June or July, when the mulberry begins to grow intensively, you need to cut cuttings from the shoots 15-20 cm long with two or three buds and plant them in the greenhouse at an angle of 45º, deepening the lower cut into loose soil by 3 cm. Leave it on the cutting. 1-2 top leaves, shortening the leaf blade by half, and create an environment of high humidity in the greenhouse. By autumn, the cuttings will have sprouted new shoots and acquired a strong root system, but they can only be planted in the ground next spring.

In addition to green cuttings, semi-lignified ones are also used for rooting, cutting them off at the same time. The procedure for growing mulberries from woody cuttings is exactly the same as from green cuttings, the only difference is that they take root more slowly. Mulberry from cuttings also completely inherits the characteristics of the mother plant.

Mulberry grafting

Mulberry is grafted by everyone possible ways, but the simplest and most successful is copulation - grafting onto a cut with a cutting. In simple copulation, the rootstock and scion of the same thickness are fused: on the rootstock and scion cuttings, oblique cuts are made between the two buds with a length equal to four diameters of the plants being fused (for example, cuts of six centimeters in length with a diameter of the scion cutting and rootstock of 1.5 cm). The sections are combined and the junction is tied with budding tape or some other elastic material.

Improved copulation with a tongue is performed as follows: sections of the scion and rootstock, which are done as described above, are supplemented with tongue cuts. Step back one third from the end of the cut and make a cut to the middle of the cut on the rootstock down and on the scion up. Place the cut edges and fold the tabs in to create a tighter fit, then wrap tape around the splice.

Mulberry diseases

In general, mulberry is quite resistant to various diseases, but sometimes it also gets sick. Most often, gardeners have to deal with diseases such as powdery mildew, cylindrosporiosis, or brown leaf spot, bacteriosis and curly leaf blight. Damages mulberry and tinder fungus.

Powdery mildew caused by a fungus and manifests itself whitish coating on mulberry leaves and shoots. The disease progresses in dry weather; the disease develops especially quickly in thickened crowns. When the first signs of the disease appear, the mulberries are treated with Fundazol, Bordeaux mixture or a suspension of colloidal sulfur. As a preventive measure, one can consider collecting and burning fallen leaves in the fall.

Cylindrosporiosis, or brown leaf spot- Same fungal disease, the symptoms of which are purple-red spots with a ring border appearing on the leaves. As the disease progresses, the leaf tissue inside the spot falls out, the leaves turn yellow and fall off. When the first signs of the disease appear, and then two weeks later, the plant is sprayed with a one percent Silit solution, spending up to 3 liters of solution per tree.

Bacteriosis It mostly affects young leaves and shoots of mulberries, disfiguring them with spots of irregular shapes, which become black as the disease progresses. Mulberry leaves curl and fall off, the shoots become deformed and become covered with gum-like clots. Against bacteriosis, mulberries are treated with Fitoflavin or Gamair, but, unfortunately, this does not always help, so The best way protecting the plant from bacteriosis - preventive measures.

Small leaf curl- a viral infection transmitted by insects. The disease manifests itself by wrinkling of the leaf plate between the veins, followed by granular nodularity. As a result, the leaves curl and shrink, the shoots become rough and brittle, although their number increases abnormally. Unfortunately, this disease is incurable, but as a preventive measure it is recommended to combat insects that carry viral infections, which primarily include sucking pests - aphids, thrips, mites and the like.

Not too often, but from time to time, mulberry trees are affected by insect pests, which primarily include spider mites, American butterflies, mulberry moths and Comstock scale insects.

White American butterfly- the most dangerous of pests. Its greenish-brown caterpillars with black warts and yellow-orange stripes on the sides can eat all the leaves on a tree. Spider nests should be cut off and burned, hunting belts should be installed on tree trunks, and the mulberry crown should be treated with Chlorophos.

Mulberry moth, or rather, its caterpillars also feed on mulberry leaves. To protect the tree from them, it is sprayed with Chlorophos in the spring, at the time of swelling of the buds - it is at this time that the moth caterpillars appear.

Spider mites, settling on the mulberry, they produce the finest web, which is a sign of the presence of these tiny, invisible to the eye, but very dangerous pests. Ticks feed on the cell sap of mulberry leaves, making punctures in them, which causes the leaves to turn brown and fall off after some time. But the worst thing is that spider mites carry incurable viral diseases. Against ticks, which is arachnids, insecticides are not effective - it is destroyed with acaricidal drugs - Kleschevit, Actellik and the like.

Comstock's worm- also a sucking insect, settling in the bark of a tree, on its leaves and branches and feeding on their juice, weakening the plant. As a result of its vital activity, wounds and tumors form on the mulberry, the branches become deformed and dry, and the leaves turn yellow and fall off. Scalebugs are destroyed by treating damaged plants with pesticides.

The classification of mulberries is very confusing - according to different sources The genus contains from 17 to 200 species. This is due to the fact that there are many natural hybrids of the plant, which some scientists distinguish as independent species. Three types of mulberries are most often grown in culture, which we will introduce you to.

Red mulberry (Morus rubra)

native to North America. It is hardy, drought-resistant, cold-resistant and undemanding to growing conditions. The height of plants of this species reaches 10-20 m, their crown is in the form of a tent, and the bark is brownish-brown in color. Leaves are up to 12 cm long, long-awned, rounded or ovate, rough on the upper side of the plate and felted on the lower side. On young shoots the leaves are deeply lobed. The fruits of the red mulberry are juicy, up to 3 cm long, sweet and sour taste, dark red, almost black in color - very similar to blackberries. The fruits ripen at the end of July. Red mulberry is usually represented by dioecious plants, requiring a pair of the opposite sex for fruiting, although sometimes monoecious specimens are also found. Red mulberry has a decorative shape - felt, with leaves, the underside of which is covered with thick white pubescence.

Black mulberry (Morus nigra)

originally from Iran and Afghanistan. It is a tree up to 15 m high with a spreading crown, large, broadly ovate, asymmetrical leaves up to 20 cm long and up to 15 cm wide, the upper side of which is rough and the lower side is felted. Black, sweetish-sour, glossy fruits reach a length of 3 cm. This species is drought-resistant, but more heat-loving than red mulberry and white mulberry. Based on the basic form, new forms are derived:

• Remontantnaya– a dwarf compact form of mulberry that can be grown in a container;
• SHELLY No. 150- a large-fruited, productive mulberry, the juicy and sweet berries of which reach a length of 5.5 cm, and the very large leaves, up to half a meter long, are used for decorative purposes.

Popular varieties of black mulberry are Royal, Black Prince, Black Pearl, Plodovaya-4 and Nadezhda.

White mulberry (Morus alba)

native to the deciduous forests of China. This is a tree up to 20 m high with brown, fissured bark and a dense spherical crown. The color of the bark of young branches is from gray-green to reddish-brown. The leaves have a variety of configurations: on one tree they can be not only different sizes, but also of different shapes. The leaves are dark green in summer and turn straw yellow in autumn. Sweet fruits of various colors resemble blackberries or raspberries in shape. This species is hardy in urban environments, frost-resistant and unpretentious. There are many decorative forms white mulberry:

• weeping mulberry– a tree up to 5 m high with drooping thin branches;
• pyramidal– these trees can reach a height of 8 m. They have a narrow pyramidal crown and lobed leaves;
• spherical– a tree with a dense spherical crown;
• spoon-shaped– a multi-stemmed plant up to 5 m high with early ripening fruits and folded concave leaves;
• large-leaved– leaves of trees of this shape can reach a length of 22 cm;
• common angustifolia– bush-like form of mulberry with small, very rough, notched leaves;
• dissect-leaved- an elegant plant, the leaves of which are divided into regular narrow lobes, and the apical and two lateral lobes are strongly elongated;
• golden– plants of this form have leaves and young shoots of a golden yellow color:
• Tatar– a slow-growing, low-growing mulberry with increased winter hardiness and multi-lobed small leaves.

For those who are more interested not in decorative qualities, but in the fruit harvest, we offer highly productive varieties of white mulberry:

• White honey– a tall tree with white sweet fruits up to 3 cm long;
• Dark-skinned girl– a productive frost-resistant variety with sweet and sour black fruits up to 3.5 cm long;
• White tenderness– a high-yielding variety with white tender fruits up to 5 cm long;
• Luganochka– a highly productive variety with creamy, sweet fruits up to 5.5 cm long;
• Black Baroness– an early frost-resistant variety with aromatic sweet fruits up to 3.5 cm long;
• Staromoskovskaya– frost-resistant mulberry with a spherical crown and almost black sweet berries up to 3 cm long;
• Ukrainian-6– a productive early variety with black fruits up to 4 or more centimeters long.

In addition to those described, white mulberry varieties Diana, White Tenderness, Belosnezhka and Mashenka are in demand in gardening.

Large varieties of mulberry

Those who strive for perfection will certainly be interested in mulberry varieties with the largest fruits - White Tenderness, Shelly No. 150, Black Pearl and Black Prince.

Mulberry varieties for the Moscow region

It makes no sense to grow black mulberry in the middle zone, but among the varieties of white mulberry there are those that have been successfully cultivated in the middle zone for a long time. Among them are Vladimirskaya, Royal, Belaya Honey and Staromoskovskaya.

Properties of mulberries - benefits and harms

Useful properties of mulberries

The medicinal properties of mulberry are due to the substances included in its composition - vitamins A, K, E and C, trace elements selenium, iron, manganese, zinc and copper, macroelements phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium. Ripe mulberry fruits contain riboflavin, pantothenic and folic acids, tocopherol, pyridoxine and choline.

IN folk medicine Mulberries are used to treat many diseases: ripe berries, which have a laxative effect on the body, treat constipation, and green ones, on the contrary, are used for diarrhea, as well as heartburn. Mulberry juice diluted with boiled water is used as a gargle for throat diseases. And an infusion of bark and berries is effective for acute respiratory infections, bronchitis, and bronchial asthma.

The diuretic property of a decoction of mulberry roots and bark is used for hypertension, and an infusion of leaves is used as an antipyretic for fever. People with heart disease and myocardial dystrophy are recommended to consume mulberry berries in large quantities - 300 g 4 times a day for a month.

For stress and insomnia, it is recommended to use a decoction of dry mulberries, since they contain a high content of B vitamins, which affect protein and carbohydrate metabolism and support the functioning of the nervous system.

It is recommended to consume mulberry during physical overload and during the recovery period after surgery, since the magnesium, potassium and quercetin contained in its berries have a beneficial effect on hematopoiesis.

In Vietnam, the drug Fomidol is produced from mulberry leaves, used to treat rheumatism and skin diseases.

Mulberry bark powder mixed with oil helps fast healing bruises, cuts, ulcers and wounds, and lubricated several times a day with the juice of fresh mulberries, ringworm will disappear without a trace. But main benefit mulberry is that it occupies one of the first places in potassium content, therefore it is used for hypokalemia - a deficiency in the body of this important element.

Mulberry - contraindications

Harm to mulberry may occur in case of individual intolerance. Sometimes digestive disorders occur due to overeating or eating unripe mulberries. In addition, you should know that mulberry berries and juice do not combine well with other fruits and juices, causing fermentation in the intestines, so they, like melon, should be consumed separately - two hours before or two hours after another meal.

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