How much water does a mulberry tree need
Watering Mulberry Trees - Stark Bro's
Mulberry trees are drought-tolerant once established, but the following guidelines should be followed to ensure their initial growth and fruit production.
NOTE: This is part 8 in a series of 9 articles. For a complete background on how to grow mulberry trees, we recommend starting from the beginning.
General Guidelines
- Mulberry trees should receive at least 1 inch of water each week for optimal growth and fruit production. If you receive this amount of rainfall in your area each week, you won’t need to use the hose.
- During dry spells, fruit may drop prematurely if irrigation is insufficient. Be sure to soak the entire root system deeply to avoid this. The best way to do this is to let your garden hose trickle slowly. This gives the water a chance to soak in instead of running off. You can also use a soaker hose to water several trees at once.
NEXT: Harvesting Mulberry Trees
Previous: Spraying Mulberry Trees
In This Series
- Introduction
Getting Started
- Acclimate
- Planting
Care & Maintenance
- Fertilizing
- Pest & Disease Control
- Pruning
- Spraying
- Watering
Other Topics
- Harvesting
Latest Articles & Videos
How to Know When Apples are Ready to Pick Knowing when apples are ripe may be easier than you think! Follow these simple steps to know when it's time to harvest apples from your fruit tree.
How to Plant Garlic Garlic is one of the easiest and most versatile vegetables to grow! They are naturally hardy, fairly pest and disease resistant, and not too picky on growing locations. They will require loose soil and 6 hours of sun.
Mowing Strawberry Plants When it's time to prune your strawberry patch, there are several options to consider for cutting back your strawberry plants. Andrew at the Howard Homestead utilized a push mower and bagger to prune his strawberry patch of 400 plants in less than 30 minutes!
Planting in Summer – Tips for Success Planting is not limited to the Spring! With a watchful eye, you can continue to fill out your garden with lush perennial plants and trees throughout the Summer and into Fall!
How Much Water Does a Mulberry Tree Use? | Home Guides
By Amy Rodriguez
Known for its messy fruits that stain children's hands and nearby sidewalks, mulberry trees (Morus spp.
) also provide a wide and dense canopy for cooling your home and yard during the summer. These deciduous trees typically grow taller than 50 feet, depending on the cultivar. Mulberry's large size requires a substantial amount of water based on local climate and soil texture.
Soil Structure
-
Although mulberry trees tolerate most soil types, they need a moist environment for the best growth and fruiting. The amount of water necessary to create this moist soil structure depends on the daily air temperatures and ground conditions. For example, rich loam soils, using a mixture of clay, humus and sand, hold the necessary moisture for root uptake. However, the soil must remain well-drained to prevent soggy conditions for the mulberry's roots. Rot easily damages roots confined to saturated conditions. Frequent evaluation of your soil allows you to determine if natural rainfall is sufficient or if you need to supplement irrigation for healthy tree growth.
Fruit Growth
-
Mulberry fruits hold moisture within their structures as they grow in clumped groups along the tree limbs.
Along with requiring sufficient water for developing fruit, the tree itself needs the nourishment to hold the heavy fruits securely until they are ripe enough for dropping. For example, moisture-starved stems cannot support the fruits as they grow large and subsequently drop them too soon. As a result, these damaged fruits turn into waste because they are not sweet enough to eat. Additionally, fruits develop on new growth throughout the mulberry tree. Without adequate water supplies, new growth becomes stunted and impairs fruit production until the soil ecosystem has a balanced moisture level.
Watering Technique
-
Mulberry trees need deep roots for proper establishment and healthy moisture uptake. The best watering technique requires you to water the tree out to its drip line, or where the canopy stops overhead. Water amounts vary depending on your tree's size and age. Saturate the soil deeply to encourage roots to dive deep into the ground; shallow and frequent watering keeps roots at the surface where they suffer from drought conditions.
If you keep the soil moist consistently, your tree typically yields more fruit each year.
Drought and Irrigation
-
Mulberry trees tolerate drought, but at the expense of your fruit crop. If you live in a relatively dry region, consider investing in an irrigation system. Drip tubes with emitters allow you to moisten the soil without wetting the tree's leaves and fruit; bacteria and fungal diseases typically thrive on wet foliage. In addition, keep grasses several feet from the tree's trunk so that root competition for water does not become a factor for your garden.
References
- Floridata: Morus Alba
- University of Arizona: Mulberry Trees
- Purdue University: Morus Alba L.
Writer Bio
Writing professionally since 2010, Amy Rodriguez cultivates successful cacti, succulents, bulbs, carnivorous plants and orchids at home. With an electronics degree and more than 10 years of experience, she applies her love of gadgets to the gardening world as she continues her education through college classes and gardening activities.
Mulberry - planting, cultivation, care and varieties
In the article we discuss mulberry . We talk about its features, planting and growing. You will learn about the proper care of the crop, and what varieties of mulberries are suitable for growing in the Moscow region, Central Russia.
Description of mulberry
Mulberry (mulberry tree, mulberry) is a genus of plants of the Mulberry family, which includes 17 species of deciduous trees common in the subtropical zones of Eurasia, North America. The tree culture is wind-pollinated.
Mulberry grows fast when young but slows down with time. On average, it reaches a height of 10-15 m. The leaves of the culture are simple, alternate, serrated along the edges. A tree lives up to 200 years, less often up to 300-500.
Mulberries are used to make wines, vodkas and soft drinks. Also, berries are used as a filling for pies, jams and jams are made based on them.
The famous mulberry is made from mulberry - chacha : a very strong alcoholic drink - up to 70 degrees.
It is considered, among other things, medicinal.
The most common varieties: white mulberry and black mulberry, are actively cultivated, including in the south of Russia. White mulberry juice can be used to remove black mulberry juice.
In Central Asia, mulberry wood is used to make musical instruments. It is also used as a building and ornamental material. In Russia, harvesting mulberry wood has been banned since 2011.
Mulberry is propagated by seeds, grafting, offspring, layering and cuttings.
Mulberry planting
Mulberry seedlings can be planted in open ground in spring in April before the start of sap flow or in autumn in September-October before the onset of the rainy season. Most gardeners recommend planting a mulberry culture in autumn, as there is an opinion that if a tree survives the winter, it will live for many years.
Mulberry loves well-lit areas that are well protected from the cold wind. Swampy, sandy and saline soil is not suitable for planting, while groundwater on the site must lie at a depth of at least 1.
5 m.
Trees with only male flowers are unable to bear fruit on their own. At the same time, it is possible to find out the sex of a seedling only when it is 4–5 years old. We recommend that you buy 3-year-old mulberry seedlings that have already given their first harvest.
Mulberry planting site must be prepared in advance (2 weeks before planting). The pit should be at least 50 cm deep and wide. If the soil in your area is poor, then the pit should be dug deeper, as additional fertilizers will be required (5–7 kg of rotted manure mixed with 100 g of superphosphate). Sprinkle the bottom layer of soil with top dressing so that it does not come into contact with the mulberry root system.
Place the crop seedling in the middle of the hole, straighten its roots, then fill it with 2 buckets of water. Then fill in the hole. If you plan to plant a tree in the spring, then dig a pit in the fall with the addition of a nutrient mixture to it.
Cultivation and care of mulberries
To reduce the risk of tree infection with various diseases, it is necessary to systematically carry out preventive treatments by spraying both the crop itself and the surface of the tree circle.
Apply insecticides and fungicides for treatment. Spraying should be carried out in April before bud break and in October after the end of the growing season.
The use of Nitrafen solution helps to eliminate various diseases and pests. In spring, it is advisable to spray the crop with a solution of urea (7%) to neutralize all pests and pathogenic microorganisms.
Watering
To make Mulberries more hardy, start watering them from early spring until July. Water the crop during a severe drought. It is necessary to stop watering from July. In the event that the spring turned out to be rainy, the tree can not be watered.
Top dressing
Fertilizer should be applied from spring to July. In the spring, the tree needs nitrogen fertilizers, in the summer - potash and phosphorus.
Pruning mulberries
Pruning crops when they are partially or completely dormant. The optimal time is early spring before the start of sap flow. Most often, anti-aging and shaping pruning is carried out at the end of April and until the beginning of May, until the buds open.
In autumn, after the leaves fall, carry out sanitary pruning, pay attention to the fact that the air temperature at this time is not lower than -10 degrees.
Different types of mulberries have their own pruning characteristics. For example, weeping mulberry needs thinning pruning, shortening of branches and stems. This type of mulberry is restored in a short period of time, so it is not afraid of even the strongest pruning.
Stamped mulberries require shaping pruning. During the procedure, on a long stem, on which there are no branches, form a magnificent spherical cap or a falling cascade of branches.
The most difficult thing is to form a decorative mulberry tree. At the same time, it will be difficult to regularly maintain the original form of culture.
Pruning in spring
In a young tree, all branches should be cut off at a height of 1.5 m, this will prevent the branches from falling to the ground in the future. A saved conductor can grow up to 5-6 m, and you will need to cut off all competing stems.
If you have no desire to deal with the crown, then let the tree grow naturally.
Pruning in autumn
Pruning in autumn is carried out only after all foliage has fallen. At this time, sanitary pruning is carried out, cutting out injured, damaged and dried branches. As a rule, mulberries do not need annual pruning.
The best varieties of mulberry
Below are varieties of mulberries suitable for growing in the Moscow region, the middle zone and the south of the country.
White Mulberry
This crop is native to China, where it grows in broad-leaved forests. The tree can reach a height of 20 m. This variety of mulberry is distinguished by good frost resistance, unpretentious care and endurance to urban conditions. This type of mulberry tree has many decorative forms.
Black mulberry
This variety of mulberry is native to Iran and Afghanistan. Such a tree grows up to 15 m in height. Black mulberry is resistant to drought, but at the same time it has less winter hardiness than white.
Mulberry in Moscow and the Moscow region
The climate near Moscow is not quite suitable for growing mulberries. But if the winter turned out to be snowy, then the culture is able to withstand a cold snap of up to minus 30 degrees. But at the same time, if the winter period turned out to be little snowy, then the culture may die when the temperature drops to minus 7–10 degrees. As a result, when planting a tree in the Moscow region, it is not necessary to deepen the root collar deeply into the soil.
Due to the fact that the length of daylight does not meet the requirements of the mulberry tree, it has only 2 growing seasons - autumn and spring. As a result, the mulberry in autumn is able to throw off those parts of the shoot that are not viable, thanks to which it can survive the winter.
Where to buy mulberry seedlings
You can buy mulberry seedlings with delivery by Russian post in our nursery online store.
We offer quality seedlings of fruit and ornamental crops at affordable prices.
Only with us you can get the tree of your dreams, which is characterized by good survival with no diseases or pests.
Making an order with us is quite simple. In the Catalog section, go to Fruit Trees and select Mulberry. Mark the required number of seedlings, pay for the order and our specialist will contact you. As a nice bonus, we will give you a free consultation on caring for mulberries and other fruit crops.
Make purchases in the nursery "KFH Orchard" if you want to have a plentiful and tasty harvest of fruit crops!
Mulberry blanks (bonus content)
White and dark fruits, as well as their mixtures, can be used to prepare mulberry blanks. The most popular are mulberry blanks: compotes, preserves, jams. With the help of freezing / drying, you can have mulberries in your diet all year round, tasty and healthy.
In order to obtain high-quality mulberry blanks, the fruits should be carefully selected. They should only be freshly picked, of uniform color, without stains or damage.
The "feedstock" must be uniform in maturity and size. For juice, jam and marshmallow, ripe and even slightly overripe fruits are suitable, and for jam, compote and freezing - only dense ones - "highest grade".
Silkberry compote
Compote recipes are endless. Let's give one example, "for testing".
To make mulberry compote, you will need the following products:
- mulberries - 1 kg;
- water - 400 ml;
- sugar — 600 g.
Compote can be prepared from white, pink, dark mulberry varieties or from their mixture, stacking fruits of different colors in layers. Selected berries should be washed in cold water and allowed to drain. Then the fruits must be placed in clean, dry liter jars and poured with sugar syrup, the temperature of which should not be lower than 90 degrees. Next, the jars need to be covered with lids and placed in a container with heated water for pasteurization for 25 minutes. After pasteurization, the jars are hermetically sealed and cooled.
Mulberry jam
To make mulberry jam, you will need the following ingredients:
- mulberries — 1 kg;
- sugar - 1.2 kg;
- water - 400 ml;
- citric acid - 3 g.
Jam can be prepared in three ways.
The first way. The fruits must be washed, allowed to drain, placed in a cooking container and poured with hot sugar syrup made from water and sugar. Put on low heat, hold on it for 5 minutes and cool to room temperature. After the time has elapsed, boil for another 10 minutes and cool again. Then the jam must be boiled until fully cooked, which can be checked by dropping a little syrup on a plate. If the drop does not blur, then the jam is ready.
The second way. Berries filled with sugar syrup must be kept for 3-4 hours. Then put them on a sieve, and boil the syrup to a boiling point of 105 degrees. Dip the berries into the finished syrup and cook over high heat until fully cooked.
The third way. Sprinkle mulberry fruits with sugar.
After a few hours, when the berries release juice, boil them for 5 minutes over low heat. Then you should leave them for 10 minutes. Do this a few more times until the jam is ready.
For all methods of cooking, at the end of boiling the jam, it is necessary to pour citric acid into it. Pour the finished boiling jam into heated dry jars, cover with boiled lids, seal hermetically and refrigerate.
Mulberry jam
To make mulberry jam, you will need the following ingredients:
- mulberries — 1 kg;
- sugar - 1 kg;
- lemon juice - 30 ml.
Rinse the mulberries under running water and leave in a colander for 5 minutes to make the water glass. Then: chop the fruits with a blender and rub through a sieve to separate the bones and tails. Mix the resulting puree with sugar and boil over low heat until cooked. At the end of cooking, you need to add lemon juice. Ready jam must be packaged hot in heated dry jars, covered with boiled lids, hermetically sealed and cooled.
Mulberry marshmallow
To prepare mulberry marshmallow, you will need the following ingredients:
- mulberry berries — 1 kg;
- sugar - 100 g.
Mulberries must be washed, allowed to drain, ground with a blender to a puree state, and rubbed through a sieve. Next, add sugar and boil over low heat for 30 minutes. Put the berry mass in a layer of 1.5–2 cm on silicone-coated parchment paper. Dry the marshmallow in the sun. In the process of drying, it should be turned over onto another sheet of paper, and the sheet that is on top should be removed. Marshmallow is considered ready when it does not stick together when rolled into a tube. The finished marshmallow must be rolled into a tube or cut into pieces of any shape. The rolled marshmallow should be wrapped in paper or cling film, and the cut marshmallow should be stored in a container. The marshmallow should be stored at a temperature not exceeding 15 degrees, and preferably in the refrigerator.
Mulberry juice
Mulberry juice can be prepared in two ways:
- Pressing.
- Evaporation.
To obtain juice from mulberries by pressing, the prepared berries must be crushed with a blender (or passed through a meat grinder), placed in a cooking container and water added at the rate of 100 ml of water per 1 kg of fruits. The mass should be heated without boiling, then placed in a press and squeezed out. The resulting juice must be filtered through 3-4 layers of gauze. Heat the filtered juice to a temperature of 95 degrees and pour into dry heated jars to the top. Cover filled jars with boiled lids, cork and cool.
The second way to get juice is simpler, but requires special kitchen equipment - a juicer. Washed mulberries must be placed in the grid of the juicer, covered with a lid and placed on a tank of boiling water. After 20 minutes of boiling, 1.5–2 cups of juice should be poured into a net with berries, since the first juice is not sterile enough.
After 35–40 minutes, the juice is poured through the outlet tube into hot jars and hermetically sealed.
Dried mulberries
Mulberries of all colors and varieties are suitable for drying. The fruits must be thoroughly washed, drained of water and laid out in a thin layer on a baking sheet covered with paper / parchment. Drying the fruits is in the sun (as it was originally customary in the South) for 3-4 days. In the evening and at night, baking sheets with mulberries are recommended to be brought into a ventilated room so that the fruits do not become saturated with moisture overnight.
If weather conditions do not allow drying mulberries outside, this can be done in the oven, first at 50-60 degrees and then at 70-75 degrees. Drying time in the oven is 10-12 hours.
Dried mulberries are stored in a cool, dry place. Glass jars can be used as a storage container. Dried mulberry is well stored in linen bags made of natural fabrics, paper or vacuum bags.
Frozen mulberries
Large, firm, not overripe mulberries should be selected for freezing.
They should first be washed in cold water, allowed to drain and laid on a towel to remove moisture from the surface of the fruit. Spread the prepared berries in a thin layer on a flat surface (tray) and put in the freezer, turning on the quick freeze mode. After an hour, we take out the finished product and put it into packages (or containers), which we put again / put in the freezer for long-term storage.
Mulberry - planting and tree care for the lazy
What you need to know about mulberry
Mulberry (or mulberry tree) is a powerful, long-lived deciduous plant. Depending on the conditions and variety, it can grow and, most importantly, bear fruit for up to 300 years!
The tree is predominantly dioecious; male flowers develop on one mulberry tree, female flowers on the other. Therefore, such varieties must be planted in heterosexual pairs (or several females per male). But there are also monoecious varieties, i.e. containing flowers of both sexes on the same tree.
Which variety to choose
As fruit plants, three main types are cultivated mainly - white, black and red. Based on them, new varieties are developed, including more frost-resistant and productive ones. Consider some of them:
- Black Prince. Medium-sized tree (up to 10 m) with a wide crown. A distinctive feature is large, fragrant black berries. The yield of one tree can reach 100 kg. The variety is winter-hardy - able to tolerate up to minus 30 degrees. The plant is dioecious, so a pollinator is required.
- White honey. A low tree with a wide pyramidal crown. The fruits are large, white with an amazing honey taste. The variety is productive and has high winter hardiness - down to -30°C. The ripening period is early - in June you can already enjoy berries.
- Pink princess. Low (up to 2-2.5 m) tree with a wide crown, very unpretentious and productive. From one bush you can collect up to 16 kg of dense, fragrant berries of pale pink color.
How to plant mulberries
The crown of a mature tree is spreading and tends to thicken. Therefore, the choice of landing site must be approached responsibly.
Place
The mulberry tree is sun-loving, so it is recommended to plant it on the south side and protect it from east and north winds and drafts. The distance between neighboring trees should be at least 5-6 meters for tall varieties, for short forms it can be reduced to 3-4 meters.
Soil
Almost any soil is suitable for growing mulberries. The tree grows best on light, fertile loam. Sandy and marshy soils with a high level of groundwater are least suitable.
If the land on your site is not suitable, the site must be prepared before planting. How to do it:
- A planting pit measuring 50-60 cm deep and 80-100 cm in diameter is filled with soil mixed with leaf soil, sand and humus.
- In addition to organic matter, mineral fertilizers can also be added: 50-70 g of superphosphate and 20-30 g of potassium sulfate.
The main condition is that fertilizer granules do not touch the roots. - A mulberry tree is planted in the prepared hole after two weeks. It is recommended to deepen the root collar by a couple of centimeters. The seedling is watered with 2 buckets of water and mulched with peat or compost.
- For the winter trees are recommended to be mulched with chopped straw, peat, fallen leaves.
Mulberry tree care
The main activities are reduced to periodic feeding, pruning and protection from diseases and pests.
Top dressing
Fertilizing a mulberry tree is not fundamentally different from other fruit trees. In the spring, by the time the buds open, fertilizers are applied with an emphasis on nitrogen. During flowering and pouring, the fruits are fed with complex compounds (for example, azofoska NPK 16:16:16). At the end of summer, for better maturation of wood, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are applied and nitrogen is excluded.
You can also pinch the tops of young mulberries to stop the growth of the tree.
Pruning
Pruning is necessary for mulberries, especially at a young age, because their crown tends to thicken. Formative pruning is done in the spring, before the start of sap flow. First of all, the affected and thickening crown branches are removed. And also the main shoots are shortened to stop growth upwards. Autumn pruning - sanitary. Weak, diseased and damaged shoots are removed.
Watering
Mulberry is considered a drought tolerant tree. And indeed it is. But in order for it to grow well and the fruits to pour and ripen well, additional moderate watering is necessary in dry weather. The plant does not like excessive moisture.
Disease and insect control
Mulberry trees are considered to be resistant to many types of pests and diseases. Nevertheless, the plant can be affected by fungal and bacterial diseases, as well as be attacked by pests typical for the area: the larva and adult of the May beetle, wireworm, spider mites and other pests.
