Branch with fruits to varying degrees maturity
Not many people know that growing mulberries and caring for them middle lane and the Moscow region are becoming commonplace and commonplace. Every year, more and more fans of this beautiful and useful plant plant mulberries (also called mulberries) as a supplier of delicious berries, for decorative purposes, to create shady corners and hedges.
Gardeners are attracted, first of all, by the opportunity to obtain a harvest of fragrant and healing berries. Those who have tried them at least once will definitely want to have one beautiful plant in your own area. It is especially pleasant that the mulberry tree bears fruit regularly and produces abundant harvests.
Very beautiful. The branches covered with shiny berries are delightful, its carved leaves and spreading crown are decorative.
Unpretentiousness and plasticity are another advantage. Some enthusiasts grow mulberries in Siberia. Growing and caring for it have the same recommendations as for the middle zone, but it is advisable to limit it to bush forms and cover it more thoroughly for the winter root system, which is most susceptible to frost.
At home (in Transcaucasia, Central Asia, China), the mulberry tree reaches large sizes- up to 15-20 meters high. When growing mulberries in central Russia, you can get a plant no higher than 5 meters. Quite often it is cultivated as a shrub.
More than one and a half dozen species of this plant have been described. In our conditions, two varieties are usually used: and white. For the Moscow region and the central zone, it would be preferable to plant white mulberries, since this variety tolerates cold better and has larger and sweeter fruits.
Interesting facts: These two species differ not in the color of the berries, as one might initially assume, but in the color of the bark. Any of the varieties can have light or dark colored berries. Also has more soft leaves, which are a favorite delicacy of the silkworm, which actually gave the name to this plant.
It is preferable to have 2-3 plants on the plot so as not to wonder why the mulberry does not bear fruit. The fact is that the mulberry is a dioecious plant and the absence of a pollinator plant may be the reason why the fruits do not set. Although this plant can sometimes form berries without fertilization.
To plant seedlings, you should choose a bright place, protected from the north wind. Mulberry is unpretentious to soil conditions and grows well even in poor soils. But it does not like nearby groundwater; it is advisable to avoid such places. After planting, the mulberry begins to bear fruit in the 7th year if the plant is grown from seeds. The seedling obtained by grafting will bear its first fruits in 3 or 4 years.
How to plant a mulberry so that it takes root better and feels good in the future? This needs to be done in the spring, but landing pit should be ready in the fall. Bush forms are placed at a distance of 2-3 meters. Trees are planted no closer than 5 meters from each other. This most important advice for planting standard mulberries: plants planted in close quarters develop poorly, their branches become bare, the yield decreases and the decorativeness decreases.
The roots should be carefully spread on a mound made in the center of the hole, sprinkled with earth mixed with humus and a small amount complex fertilizer (matchbox for seedling). The soil is carefully but thoroughly compacted and watered abundantly. After watering, you can add a little soil and be sure to mulch the surface.
Attention! Mulberry roots are quite fragile!
This procedure is especially important in the first years of development of a young plant. Mulberry pruning is aimed at ensuring that the plant takes on the appearance desired by the owner. By greatly shortening the shoots, you can give the mulberry tree the shape of a bush. In order for the plant to develop in the form of a tree, it is left with a main trunk and several skeletal branches on it, evenly spaced.
After 5-6 years of growth, the mulberry itself regulates the development of its crown; the branches that thicken the crown die off on their own. The gardener can only cut them off in a timely manner.
Sanitary pruning of trees is carried out once every 3-4 years. The preferred time for it is late autumn. As a last resort, this procedure is postponed to early spring. When pruning is carried out late in spring or summer, young shoots may not ripen and subsequently freeze.
An amazing feature of our guest from the southern regions is her unpretentiousness. Sometimes it is called a plant for the lazy. Careful care of the mulberry is needed only in the first years of its development. Water is an essential requirement for young plants until the root system is fully developed. A strong plant requires minimal attention and practically does not need watering, reaching deep soil horizons with its roots.
For the first three years, the mulberries are not fed, since the fertilizers added during planting are quite enough for the developing mulberry tree. How to fertilize mulberries in the future? A mature plant needs fertilizing only if the soil on the site is too poor. Usually limited standard scheme: early in the spring, nitrogen fertilizers are applied to the tree trunk circle, and potassium and phosphorus fertilizers are applied at the end of the season. After adding mineral fertilizers, the soil surface is mulched with compost or humus.
Mulberries are capable of reproducing most known methods: root shoots, layering, cuttings, grafting, seeds. Each of them has its own merits.
Advice. It is better to take white mulberry as a rootstock, which is a more resistant form.
What can be grafted onto mulberries? Of course, there are a wide variety of varieties, differing in the shape of the crown, the cut and color of the foliage, the color and taste of the fruit. And even grapes are grafted! To do this, a hole is drilled in the peripheral part of the trunk of the mother plant, into which a young shoot is threaded. grapevine. They exist together for some time, then the grape branch grows together with the mulberry.
A relatively new culture for central Russia, fortunately, it rarely gets sick. The most common cause of damage is freezing. Branches and root systems that have not fully matured are susceptible to it. Protecting the latter is relatively simple; just pile hay or spruce branches into the tree trunk circles. The plant tolerates freezing of some branches painlessly, quickly recovering in the spring.
Is it possible to grow mulberries in the central zone of our country? Despite the fact that the tree has southern roots, according to reviews, mulberry of certain varieties grows and reproduces well in the Moscow region. In the article you will find tips with photographs on how to plant and care for mulberries.
Mulberry is widespread in the subtropical zones of America, Africa and Asia, India, in the Middle Volga region and the Moscow region, Stavropol and Krasnodar region, Nizhny Novgorod region. This ancient culture It is of great importance as a fruit and medicinal plant. Wood is a valuable material for making crafts, cooperage and musical instruments. Juices, wine and vodka, vinegar, and jelly are made from the berries. Dried berries are added to the dough. Mulberry leaves are a valuable source of nutrition for the silkworm, whose pupa is used to produce silk. It was from mulberry bast that the Chinese began to produce paper.
Both the fruits and wood of the mulberry are beneficial to humans in many ways.
There are more than 17 types of mulberry. In our country, black and white mulberries are most often used. The difference between these species lies in the color of the bark, and not the color of the berries, as many are accustomed to thinking. Black mulberries have a more pronounced taste, so they are often planted for fruit production. White is considered much more frost-resistant.
Considering the unpretentiousness of mulberry to growing conditions, the ability to tolerate air pollution, ease of shaping and decorativeness, it is widely used for landscaping: dense hedges, in groups and individually, for creating alleys. The most impressive are the following decorative forms:
Weeping form
Large-leaved form
The favorable time for planting mulberries is spring or early autumn. Choose a well-lit place, ideally southern slopes. Mulberry is undemanding when it comes to soil; it can grow on saline soils, but prefers well-drained loams.
Choose a bright place for the seedling, protected from the winds
Planting holes are prepared in advance so that the soil can stand. Size 70 x 70 cm and depth up to half a meter. The removed soil is mixed with a bucket of humus, half is placed in a hole, a seedling is placed on top, the roots are straightened and sprinkled with the remaining soil. Compact the soil around the stem and water it. Depending on the future formation of the seedling, the distance between the trees is set differently. Between standard forms leave 5 m, and 3 m between bushes.
After planting, the soil must be mulched - mulch will protect the roots of the plant from freezing in winter.
Advice. Mulberries are divided into male and female. It is better to purchase seedlings from the nursery that have already bear fruit once, so you will definitely get a fruit-bearing tree. Males do not bear fruit and are used only for landscaping or decoration.
Agricultural techniques for growing mulberries include watering, fertilizing, formative pruning, disease prevention and pest protection.
Mulberry tolerates cutting and shaping very well. Withstands temperatures down to 30 degrees, annual shoots may be damaged. In cold regions, where freezing occurs frequently, the growing shoots form a bush and a bush form of mulberry is obtained; only sanitary pruning in winter is needed. Therefore, in the Moscow region, mulberry is a bush, not a tree.
Mulberry is a very hardy plant
Free-growing mulberry reaches a height of 10 meters. It is better to create a tree on a one and a half meter trunk, bend the branches in different sides and maintain by pruning. At such a height, it is convenient to pick berries and easy to care for the crown.
Enough for the young seedling nutrients, which were introduced during planting into the pit. When the mulberry begins to bear fruit, the need for nutrition increases and it is necessary to apply fertilizer. On sandy soils this action is especially necessary. After the soil thaws, nitrogen fertilizers are applied. Possible for every square. m add 50 g of nitroammophoska or apply an infusion of bird droppings and mullein. If necessary, this feeding is repeated in early June. In the fall, you can add potassium and phosphorus elements.
Advice. If pruned very hard, the mulberry may stop bearing fruit, keep this in mind if you are growing a tree for its berries.
Mulberries are reproduced by seeds, root shoots, layering, cuttings, cultivars vaccination.
Mulberry is a fairly resistant plant to pathogenic flora and pests; in the middle zone, the crop suffers more from frost than from disease. Diseases are divided into two etiologies: fungal and viral.
Tinder fungus
Brown spot on mulberry leaves
The development of the pathogen can be facilitated by the introduction of an excessive dose of nitrogen or a lack of nutrients, or thickening of the crown.
Mulberry pests: May beetle larva, mole cricket, wireworm, white American butterfly larva, Comstock worms, spider mites.
Protect your berry harvest from birds
Spider mites are recognizable by the web on the underside of the leaf. It feeds on plant sap, which leads to the leaf apparatus turning brown and falling off. The tick reproduces very quickly. The control method is spraying with thiophos.
Khrushchev, mole crickets and wireworms damage the root system, which is especially dangerous for young plants. Also, mulberries can become infected with diseases through wounds caused by insects.
Birds love to eat mulberry berries. To preserve the harvest, you need to throw a fine mesh or agrofibre over the tree.
Mulberry or mulberry tree (Morus) is a plant from the Mulberry family (Moraceae). This is a genus well known to amateur gardeners, which includes twelve main species, represented by deciduous, wind-pollinated trees. The culture is most widespread in warm temperate and subtropical climates, where it grows in natural conditions. The mulberry tree in nature can reach 35 m in height.
The young plant is characterized by rapid growth, which, as the deciduous crop matures, slows down and stops at around 10-15 m. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, often lobed, with jagged edges. The plant blooms in May.
The fruits are complex, compound and fleshy drupes. Their length does not exceed 20-30 mm. Standard coloration can range from distinct red to dark purple, with white fruit varieties available. Some types of mulberries produce edible, sweet fruits with a pleasant smell.
The plant is very durable. The tree can grow in one place for two hundred years or more. Reproduction is allowed through fairly small seeds. In home gardening, mulberry or mulberry, also known as tyutina, often reproduces vegetative way, green cuttings.
Most often, in home gardening conditions, decorative mulberries are grown on trunks. different heights, and in recent years other varieties of this crop have also attracted interest.
| View | Tree | Leaves | Bloom | Fruit |
| Black mulberry or M. nigra | No more than 10-13 m in height | Hairy, 10-20 cm long and 6-10 cm wide | In May-June | Dark purple, almost black, edible and sweet polydrupes 20-30 mm long |
| White mulberry or M. alba | No more than 15-18 m in height | Broadly ovoid in shape, with jagged and palmate-toothed edges, ranging in length from 5-15 cm | Unisexual, inflorescences, in April-May | The fruits are multi-druped, up to 40 mm long, cylindrical in shape, white-pink or red in color with a sickly sweet taste |
| Red mulberry or M. rubra | Height within 10-15 m | Heart-shaped, no more than 7-14 cm long and 6-12 cm wide | At the beginning of summer | A dark purple, edible and sweet polydrupe, 20-30 mm long, that looks like a blackberry. |
| Small-leaved mulberry or M. microphylla | Height within 10-15 m | Small in size, attractive heart-shaped | At the beginning of summer | Dark purple-colored edible and sweet multidrupes, similar to blackberries |
The best varieties mulberries are successfully grown by gardeners in the Moscow region and nearby regions, as well as in Belarus, Ukraine and central Russia. The most unpretentious and resistant varieties perfectly adapted for cultivation in the Urals and Siberia. The leaves of this species are bare below, sometimes with the formation of characteristic warts. The formation of slightly heart-shaped leaves makes varieties of this species quite interesting from the point of view of landscape design.
| Variety name | Botanical description | Fruit | Advantages and disadvantages |
| "Black Baroness" | The plant is tall, with a moderately dense spherical crown | Slightly aromatic, juicy and sugary complex drupe of black color, 35 mm or more long and up to 15 mm in diameter | An unpretentious variety with frost resistance down to -30°C and abundant, stable fruiting |
| "Darkie" | A relatively medium-vigorous plant with a dense and wide pyramidal crown | Edible, juicy, sugary, black, 3.5 cm long, up to 1.2 cm in diameter | An unpretentious variety with frost resistance down to -30°C |
| "Ukrainian-6" | Relatively medium-vigorous plant with a dense spherical crown | Non-fragrant, edible and sugary complex drupe with a matte black surface, 40 mm or more long and up to 8 mm in diameter | Early fruiting and high yields |
| "Smolensk pink" | Quite a tall plant with a dense, well-leafed crown | Pink berries, darkening as they ripen, medium-sized, with a very pleasant and sweet taste | Early and very frost-resistant variety |
| "Crying" | Reaches a height of 5 m and has thin branches drooping to the ground | Black-colored edible berries with a pleasant taste | Widely used in landscape design thanks to its very decorative appearance |
Slightly less common in home gardens and garden plots are varieties belonging to the species M. Nigra and others. Such plants are quite thermophilic and even in the southern regions may need quality training to the winter cold.
| Name | Botanical description | Fruit | Advantages and disadvantages |
| "Black Prince" | Medium-sized tree with a wide crown | Black color, large sizes, up to 5 cm long | High winter hardiness and stable yield |
| "Shelley" | The height of the tree does not exceed 3.5-5.0 meters | The fruits are very dark in color and large in shape, up to 5 cm long. | Large-fruited, disease-resistant and high-yielding variety from a Poltava breeder |
| "Royal" | Medium-sized, partially self-fertile tree with a relatively wide crown | The berries are black, up to 3 cm long, with excellent taste, transportable | Resistance to diseases and pests, frost resistance and high yield |
| "Vladimirskaya" | Bush-shaped tree more than 6 m high with a wide and well-leafed crown | Sweet polydrupes of dark purple color, up to 3 cm long | The variety is characterized by sufficient frost resistance and belongs to the category of self-pollinating |
Among decorative forms Of particular interest for landscape design are pyramidal mulberry, bush mulberry, golden mulberry and dwarf remontant mulberry (M. nigra Everbearing), grown in container culture.
In the conditions of home gardening, several very effective and quite effective simple ways reproduction different types mulberries.
| Reproduction method | Execution technology | Features of the method |
| Seeds | After stratification, sowing is carried out in early spring V fertile soil with a depth of one centimeter | Traits of the parent plant are not transmitted |
| Green cuttings | In June, cut cuttings with a pair of buds from the middle part of unripe shoots. Lower leaves remove completely and plant green cuttings with a depth of 3 cm under the film | The resulting plants exactly inherit all the characteristics of the mother plant |
| Semi-lignified cuttings | In mid-summer, cut cuttings with a pair of buds from the middle part of not fully ripened shoots. Remove the lower leaves completely and plant the cuttings with a depth of 3 cm under the film. | The process of complete rooting, subject to technology, takes approximately one and a half months |
| Lignified cuttings | Before the onset of a steady cooling, leafless cuttings 18 cm long, treated with a root formation stimulator, are planted in a moist soil substrate | Can be used for grafting by copulation |
| Copulation with tongue or simple | Based on the use of scion and rootstock of equal thickness | Requires certain skills and abilities |
You can plant mulberries in almost any area, which is due to the plant’s absolute undemandingness to the composition of the soil. However, in order to obtain maximum yield, seedlings are best placed on fertile soils with an acidity level in the range of 5.5-7.0 pH. Almost all types of mulberries prefer well-lit areas.
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 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.
Read more about growing mulberries below.
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 mulberry are grown - white and black, and they are distinguished not by the color of the fruit, but by the color of the bark: the branches of white mulberry have a light shade of bark - yellowish, cream or white, and the branches of black mulberry have much darker bark. Today, mulberries are as popular among gardeners as the time-tested apple, cherry, plum and other fruit trees that have long been established in our gardens, which is why we offer you information on how to plant and care for mulberries, propagate mulberries by cuttings and others methods, growing and caring for mulberries in the Moscow region, protecting the mulberry tree from diseases and pests, and we will also tell you how mulberries are useful and which varieties are the most popular in amateur gardening.
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 a plant survives the winter, it has a long life ahead of it.
In order to correctly determine the place for the mulberry, you need to know its preferences. She is light-loving and requires protection from cold winds; she does not like dry sandy soil, saline or waterlogged soil, and the occurrence 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.
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.
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.
Growing mulberries and caring for them requires performing the usual procedures for a gardener - watering, loosening the soil in the tree trunk, removing weed, feeding, pruning and protection from diseases and pests.
In order to minimize the risk of mulberry disease or pest damage, preventive treatments of the tree and tree trunk with fungicides and insecticides are carried out. The best time for such measures is 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 drug 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 is so necessary for mulberries at this time of year.
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.
During the same time period - from early spring to July - mulberries are fed. IN spring time the nitrogen component should predominate in fertilizing, and in the summer - phosphates and potassium fertilizers.
Despite the fact that the climate near Moscow is not very suitable for cultivating southern plants, grapes and even apricots have long been successfully grown in the Moscow region, 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.
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.
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 open, 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.
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 mulberries is aimed at forming a crown - at long trunk without branches they form a thick spherical cap or a cascade of branches.
The most difficult thing is to form a decorative mulberry and regularly maintain the original shape of the plant in the future.
U 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 for your own convenience tall tree, cut 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.
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, carry out sanitary pruning You won't have to every year.
Mulberry propagation occurs by seeds and vegetatively - green and lignified cuttings, grafting, layering and suckers.
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 pre-sowing preparation– in the spring, before sowing, keep the seeds for a day cold water, and then a day in water at a temperature of 50-53 ºC.
Make furrows in an unshaded sunny garden bed 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.
In case of mulberry frosting cold winter A 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.
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 15-20 cm long with two or three buds from the shoots and plant them in the greenhouse at an angle of 45º, deepening the lower cut into loose soil by 3 cm. Leave 1-2 top leaves on the cuttings, 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 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.
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 is caused by a fungus and manifests itself as a whitish coating on the leaves and shoots of mulberry. 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 preventive measure You can consider collecting and burning fallen leaves in the fall.
Cylindrosporiosis, or brown leaf spot- also a fungal disease, the symptoms of which are purple-red spots with a ring border that appear 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 as wrinkling sheet plate between the veins, after which granular nodularity appears on them. 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 cobwebs, 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. Insecticides are not effective against ticks, which are arachnid insects; they are 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 various sources, the genus numbers from 17 to 200 species. This is due to the fact that there are many natural hybrids of the plant, isolated by some scientists in independent species. Three types of mulberries are most often grown in culture, which we will introduce you to.
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.
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:
Popular varieties of black mulberry are Royal, Black Prince, Black Pearl, Plodovaya-4 and Nadezhda.
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 of white mulberry:
For those who are more interested not in decorative qualities, but in the fruit harvest, we offer highly productive varieties of white mulberry:
In addition to those described, white mulberry varieties Diana, White Tenderness, Belosnezhka and Mashenka are in demand in gardening.
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.
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.
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. Diluted boiled water Mulberry juice 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 promotes rapid healing of bruises, cuts, ulcers and wounds, and lubricated with juice several times a day fresh berries Mulberry ringworm will disappear without a trace. But the main benefit of mulberry is that it ranks high in potassium content, therefore it is used for hypokalemia - a deficiency of this essential element in the body.
,Mulberry or mulberry is a high-yielding, unpretentious crop with a rich harvest of tasty berries and many beneficial properties.
How to plant and properly care for a plant? What type of mulberry should you choose for your plot? Which breeding method should I choose? What are the benefits of mulberries and are there any contraindications?
Information on these issues, as well as detailed planting technology and agricultural techniques for growing mulberries, will be presented in detail in the article.
Mulberry, mulberry tree, tyutina, mulberry are the names of the same plant of the Mulberry family. This deciduous tree was known in Rus' in ancient times, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. And it became famous for amazing properties leaves - the favorite delicacy of the silkworm, thanks to which they began to produce natural silk. And the fruits of the tree are distinguished by high taste and nutritional qualities. Even famous historical fact the issuance of a special decree of Peter I regarding the ban on cutting down mulberry trees due to their national value.
The natural distribution area of the mulberry tree is quite wide: temperate and subtropical zones of Africa, Asia and America. The cold-resistant, drought-resistant and fast-growing plant is currently actively cultivated throughout Europe.
Mulberry is a tall tree, reaching a height of up to 15 m and living in one place for up to 200-500 years. Such long-livers already in the 5th year of planting delight with a sweet harvest, and after another 5 years they produce about 100 kg of fruit from one tree.
The mulberry tree blooms in May and bears fruit from June to September, depending on the variety.
Similar to small berries, the complex fruit of drupes has a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Each drupe with an overgrown perianth is combined into a juicy, loose-looking fruit, about 2-3 cm in length. The so-called fruits ripen unevenly; the harvest is often harvested within 1-1.5 months. To collect them, a blanket is spread under the tree, onto which the berries are sprinkled.
The most famous types of black and white mulberries.
There are both monoecious and dioecious representatives of the mulberry genus. Depending on this, planting one or two (female and male trees) plants in one area is required.
Female flowers are represented by an inflorescence of spikes, small in size, with a pubescent pistil. Male flowers resemble elongated white catkins. According to these characteristic features and determine the fruit-bearing tree from the male pollinator tree. The mulberry tree also exhibits the phenomenon of parthenocarpy, that is, the formation of fruits without fertilization.
The tree trunk is covered with dense bark and characteristic cracks.
The leaves of the mulberry are large and simple, green in color. Often on one tree there are leaves of different shapes: from whole, oval-elongated, to lobately divided, with denticles along the edges.
Today, mulberries are of deserved interest to many gardeners and landscape designers. The species diversity of mulberries is represented by crops with different crown structures, fruit colors and sizes. Depending on this, you can choose a mulberry tree with weeping branches falling to the ground; with a pyramidal or round crown; black, pink or white berries.
In total, this genus of plants includes more than 20 species of mulberry and many varietal varieties.
The most famous and widespread in our country are two types: white and black mulberries. They are distinguished not so much by the color of the berries, but by the shade of the tree bark.
There is also a classification of mulberry trees, dividing varieties according to fruit, ornamental and fodder purposes.
There are two main methods of propagation: seed and vegetative. Each method has its own characteristics and difficulties.
The seed propagation method is rarely used by gardeners due to insufficient inheritance of parental characteristics by offspring. Breeders usually use this type propagation for growing rootstocks or reclamation plantings.
A common method, replete with variety. Reproduction is used by suckers, cuttings, layering and grafting.
Offspring
The offspring completely repeat the characteristics of the adult plant.
Cuttings
For propagation by cuttings, green or semi-lignified shoots are used.
Propagation by sprouted cuttings allows you to grow mulberries that are identical in characteristics to the mother plant.
By layering
Mulberry grafting
Mulberries can be grafted in various ways.
Grafting is used to reproduce the best animals, including decorative varieties mulberry
When choosing a place for planting, it is important to know the characteristics and preferences of the mulberry tree. An unpretentious crop that can tolerate almost any growing conditions. But in order to achieve high yields of mulberries, you should know the optimal criteria for cultivation.
A sun-loving and drought-resistant plant is ideally suited to a well-lit place, protected from direct exposure to northern winds.
The soil is preferably loose, fertile, like sandy loam or loam. Having planted a mulberry tree on a shaky field, sandy soil, we can achieve its strengthening through the formation of adventitious tree roots. Heavy loamy soil can be “lightened” by placing a layer of broken bricks, as artificial drainage.
Mulberries can also grow on saline or waterlogged soils, but the yield will be significantly lower. You should also beware of areas with close groundwater to avoid rotting of the perennial root system.
Depending on the purpose of planting a mulberry tree on your site, the distance between the seedlings is determined. For decorative bush plantings, the distance between plants is small (about 0.5-1 m), and in order to obtain high yields - 5 times more.
Ready-made mulberry seedlings can be grown or purchased in specialized garden stores, markets or fairs. Mulberry roots are quite delicate and fragile, which is important to consider when purchasing and planting seedlings. A guarantee of purchasing a female fruit-bearing seedling will be the purchase of a time-tested, 3-year-old mulberry tree, which has already produced its first offspring.
Growing a mulberry tree will require the gardener to perform the usual agrotechnical techniques: watering, loosening, weeding, fertilizing, pruning and protection from pests and diseases.
Regular watering is important during initial development plant and its active vegetative growth. The mulberry crop is drought-resistant and does not require constant and frequent watering. To increase its frost-resistant qualities, gardeners recommend “hardening” the tree while still summer period. To do this, in June-July, the mulberry tree is watered and fertilized, after which these manipulations are stopped, thus preparing the plant for the upcoming state of dormancy and temperature changes.
Don’t forget about periodic loosening tree trunk circles soil around trees and timely removal of weeds.
The main feeding of the plant is carried out during the period of bud break, by applying nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer - nitroammophosphate at the rate of 50 g per 1 sq. m. m of land. If necessary, the next feeding is carried out in the first half of summer, when diluted manure (1:5) or bird droppings (1:10) are added along with watering. After July, it is no longer worth feeding, so that the mulberry does not stimulate the formation of new shoots, which, most likely, will not have time to fully form and will die when cold weather sets in.
Mulberry is a tall plant and in nature can reach up to 20-30 m in height. Naturally, on garden plot It is inconvenient to have such a tall tree, so gardeners carry out limited crown trimming. Pruning also helps speed up the fruiting process and increase yield (enlargement of fruits).
The mulberry tree is resistant to diseases and rarely gets sick. As preventive measures, in early spring or late autumn, the tree is treated with a tree trunk circle, special fungicides and insecticides.
Not everyone is familiar with the multifaceted valuable properties of mulberries. It turns out that it is not only used for food and used in silk production, mulberry has medicinal properties and is used in various areas of human life.
Probably everyone has long been familiar with the delicious sweet mulberries, white, black or pink flowers. Fleshy, juicy, with small, almost imperceptible seeds, these berries are also very healthy. They contain not only valuable vitamins for the body, vitamins A, C, B1, B2, B6, K, folic, ascorbic, pantothenic acids, but also a number of important microelements (Na, Cu, P, Mn, Fe, Mg, Ca, etc. .).
A favorite delicacy is mulberry fruits; they are used not only fresh. The berries are used to make preserves and jams, compotes and jelly, candied fruits, fruit molasses, wine and even vodka-mulberry.
mulberry dark colors used as food coloring(those who have at least once tried berries remember how difficult it is to wash their hands from its juice later).
Almost all parts of the mulberry tree: from the root to the berries, contain a variety of biologically active substances that have medicinal properties.
Mulberry berries normalize metabolism, cardiovascular and digestive system. Berry juice has a diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory and expectorant (with a thinning effect) agent. Due to its bactericidal properties, mulberry infusion is used in the treatment of sore throats and stomatitis.
A decoction of the tree bark is used as an effective anthelmintic and wound healing agent, and an infusion of leaves is used to lower blood pressure.
Mulberry root is used as an expectorant, thinning viscous and thick mucus.
In cosmetology, mulberry fruits are used to prepare cosmetic masks for the face, hair and skin of the hands.
Despite the world-famous medicinal properties of mulberry, you should not use it yourself without a doctor’s recommendation. In addition, there are a number of contraindications and individual intolerance plants.
Considering the varietal diversity of the mulberry due to its attractive decorative look, trees of exotic species are actively used in landscape design. Gardeners plant the plant both in group plantings, as a hedge, and separately, focusing on the features of the crown, the original shape of the leaves and branches of the mulberry. So, for these purposes, weeping, golden, spherical, pyramidal, dissect-leaved mulberries are most often grown.
Resistance to polluted atmosphere, unpretentiousness during planting and further care behind the plant, allows you to cultivate mulberries for landscaping industrial zones and polluted urban areas.
As you know, mulberry leaves are the main food for the silkworm, which is used in the production of natural silk.
The valuable mulberry wood is used in the manufacture of musical instruments, furniture, and durable wooden barrels.
Thus, a seemingly simple-looking tree, the mulberry, is not just garden culture, but also an even more valuable plant for humans. And the ease of caring for and growing mulberries will allow anyone, even a novice gardener, to add this useful crop to their garden collection.
