Tropical Fruit > Tropical Fruit Discussion
Trimming My Pakistani Mulberry Tree - Ideas?
Kevin Jones:
My Pakistani Mulberry tree is a monster... around 60 feet in height.
Now that cooler weather is here, it's dropped it's leaves and is dormant.
I would like to reduce the height to something more manageable... sub-10 feet would be nice.
Any anticipated problems before I start surgery?
Over the summer I rooted 3 replacement clones as insurance against a worse-case scenario.
Hopefully it will survive the onslaught and bush out at the lower height with easier to harvest fruit as the main benefit.
I'm not particularly concerned about aesthetics... practicality is my main ambition.
As a side note I should have plenty of additional material for rooting more trees.
Thanks for your input.
Kevin
achetadomestica:
I have never pruned a 60 foot mulberry but I have pruned several mulberries and they respond
well and are easy to branch out when they are small. I do have the Indian jujube that ends up
growing to 15 feet each season. I use a chain saw and cut it back to a three foot trunk and it explodes.
Your 60 foot mulberry I would use a chainsaw and I would wait until it's done with it's fruit next spring.
If you cut it now you may not get much fruit if it is a cold Winter and it stays dormant. If you want to keep it
15 feet and manageable then you may end up pruning in June and September next year. I would think a
60 foot tree will explode after being pruned and you should get another crop.
arc310:
my gardeners would hack it every month and it still grows back like crazy. however...it's the new growth that they're really cutting so not sure how older wood branches would do but i would think it would still grow back strong.
Oolie:
Sounds like it will be fine. I would saw it back to a stump, take the easternmost and westernmost shoots that spurt back and train them horizontally. that way you can harvest from the vertical branches that grow each year.
Kevin Jones:
I thought winter pruning would be safer... less bleeding.
It naturally branched at about 8 ft with a couple of horizontal branches.
I thought I might start there.
And it is definitely chainsaw work.
Any suggestions as to the trimmings/bonus material for propagation?
Kevin
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