Author Topic: Mulberries not setting fruit  (Read 3096 times)

Pokeweed

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Mulberries not setting fruit
« on: April 26, 2019, 08:26:47 AM »
Hi All, Love this forum! I have learned so much from lurking!😁 I have 2 Pakistan mulberries that have been the ground about 9 years now. For the last 5 or so they set tassels and look like they are going to fruit, but the tassels shrivel and drop. There are some large non fruiting mulberries not far from them. Could the non fruiting ones be causing the lack of fruit?
-P

JoeP450

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2019, 10:44:29 AM »
Where did you purchase your trees from?

-Joep450

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2019, 08:59:50 AM »
We have an organization here called Urban Harvest which has fruit tree sales every year. We bought them there. I don't know who they got them from. Maybe Treesearch farm?
We have another that died back to the ground during one of our droughts. It is closer to the non fruiting mulberry. It grew back from rootstock and makes small white berries. I am planning to graft a better variety back into that one. Thanks, D

roblack

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2019, 09:14:40 AM »
That's a long time in ground with no fruit.

Not as sure re Pakistani, but other mulberry trees often fruit after pruning. 

Can you post pics of the tree and closeup of the leaves. Forum members might be able to help you positively id for validation.

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2019, 09:07:01 AM »
It has been too long. When I get back down South I'll get images. I don't expect the tassels to still be on the trees.
I have not pruned these trees other than removing problem limbs. Thanks for the input Roblack!
Dan

Coach62

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2019, 01:25:33 PM »
 At some point you have to think about just yanking the tree and replacing it with a different variety. Maybe that particular variety just doesn’t like the spot that it’s in 
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Coach62

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2019, 01:26:28 PM »
 Mulberries grow very quickly, so if you did yank it now he would get fruit by next year If you replant it right away
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spaugh

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2019, 04:33:45 PM »
How does one yank a 9 year old mulberry tree?  They ought to be monsters by now.
Brad Spaugh

sahai1

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2019, 07:13:57 PM »
really strange... were they grown from seed or something?    Even my cuttings set fruit, every time I prune my tree it flowers immediately.  If left to grow unchecked they do take a break from fruiting, but generally just flush with flowers every few months.

I started off with a 2$ cutting in Thailand and within years have took enough cuttings to plant a forest and the growth has been excellent.  Not sure what variety I have, but the taste is good if ripened fully, the growth is perfect as well, especially as a 'pioneer' tree to shade other saplings.
They get a bit longer than below but not much, they are definitely not one of the 'black long' ones like Pakistani.  From what I've seen it matches the type of mulberry sold in markets in Thailand, so it could be called a Thai mulberry.








achetadomestica

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2019, 10:44:55 PM »
Most mulberries are cultivated from cuttings or grafted trees. These are females which
produce clones which are females. I believe the males have flowers but don't produce fruit.
As sahai1 stated Maybe those are seedlings and are males? I have heard people up North
say the mulberries in their woods always have seeds. My trees are all from cuttings or grafted
and I never have seeds and they fruit within one year? I agree with Coach62 those trees should
be on the chopping block

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2019, 07:54:46 AM »
I appreciate everybody's input. They are grafted. I planted them (and a bunch of other stuff) on the leading edge of what became a 3 year drought. I planted 3 alleged Pakistan varieties. We aren't there all of the time and they aren't irrigated, so 1 died back to the rootstock. The other 2 struggled. The root stock tree is stunted and makes small white berries, but the other 2 just make catkins. Somehow it escaped me that there are male/female mulberries. Maybe they grafted male stock? I've got lots of room, so I'll plant some more and watch these. I don't want to cut them down because we need every tree we can get. We are on old range land and shade is hard to come by!
D

achetadomestica

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2019, 10:13:15 AM »
I appreciate everybody's input. They are grafted. I planted them (and a bunch of other stuff) on the leading edge of what became a 3 year drought. I planted 3 alleged Pakistan varieties. We aren't there all of the time and they aren't irrigated, so 1 died back to the rootstock. The other 2 struggled. The root stock tree is stunted and makes small white berries, but the other 2 just make catkins. Somehow it escaped me that there are male/female mulberries. Maybe they grafted male stock? I've got lots of room, so I'll plant some more and watch these. I don't want to cut them down because we need every tree we can get. We are on old range land and shade is hard to come by!
D
If there are males around you would get seedy fruit which I have heard isn't good?
Mulberry trees are very fast growing drought tolerant trees. Plant some new ones and
then you can decide if you want the initial ones. You could also try to top work them.
I have a Pakistan Black female that produces very sweet 2"-3" purplish colored fruit.
I also have a White shatoot that produces very sweet white fruit. Both of these types graft
better then rooting cuttings? I also have a Shangri La mulberry that gets 20'-30' feet tall
and produces wonderful juicy messy fruit that roots easily from cuttings. Pm if you need cuttings.

Zambezi

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2019, 12:55:15 PM »
Have your Pakistani trees ever produced fruit? Those catkins maybe the fruit, which is trying to set on the 2 trees, but dropping due to lack of irrigation. They may also benefit from some fertilizer if you haven't added that already. A photo will help ID if they are male or female flowers when you get the chance.
I'm near Richmond, SW Houston, and am growing a few Pakistani's, and 6 other mulberry varieties. Mulberries are drought tolerant trees, but while they are fruiting they do benefit from regular irrigation.
Sounds good! Keep an eye on the trees, and you can always graft onto the non-fruiting branches in the future if you like.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2019, 12:58:05 PM by Zambezi »

sahai1

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2019, 01:03:21 PM »
some pictures definitely would help!

Yes I have seen some of my mulberries get stunted from full sun and poor soil and turn into bushes.  I just dug them out.  If they really set they should be growing tall.  Once they start growing tall enough they will provide their own shade.

They need that shade to produce better fruit.

However.. even when these 'bushes' were stunted, not growing, small leaves, they still set fruit, just very small and tart, and less frequently, only like 1-2 times per year.

I am surprised you said 'rootstock' is it common on your area in Texas to graft to rootstock?  Generally I always prefer to get air layered trees or cuttings just for that reason, mystery rootstocks are usually chosen from inferior varieties.

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2019, 08:54:48 AM »
I really appreciate the input folks. Grafted mulberries are not common here. These are probably the only ones I have seen. I bought them at a charity plant sale. They have always aborted the catkins, but the root stock one sets tiny white fruit.
I guess I could be starving them. I mostly use the bedding that comes out of our guinea fowl co-op for soil feed around them, and that not heavily. They get compost/molasses/whatever-else-I-throw-in-tea periodically. I'll step that up and give them more water when I can and see what happens. I need the shade regardless.
Achetadomestica - I'll p.m. Let's do some trading!

Regards,
D

Daintree

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #15 on: May 03, 2019, 12:21:31 PM »
I thought for a while that our mulberry was not setting great. Everything that I could see were just the shriveled remains of the flowers. Then purple bird poop started appearing on our cars...
It was then that I realized the fruit was setting on high up in the tree, and the birds were enjoying a feast!
Whacked the tree down to a height where I could reach everything, and viola! Mulberries!
Took the cars a long time to recover from the trauma, though.

Carolyn

SeaWalnut

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2019, 08:18:42 PM »
Id try to spray the mulberry tree with gibberellic acid for fruit set. For that you only need a verry weak solution so it should be cheap and if the tree is giant id spray just random branches . More info, short and detailed here. https://crfg.org/home/library/tidbits/gibberellic-acid-for-fruit-set-and-seed-germination/

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #17 on: May 04, 2019, 10:06:18 AM »
Thanks folks, good information. I'll get images this weekend.
D

CGameProgrammer

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #18 on: May 06, 2019, 03:37:14 AM »
Well you obviously need to water them; you can't expect to grow fruit without irrigation unless in a consistently wet climate. That's your biggest problem. Fruits require quite a bit of water so the trees need to be well watered. Secondly, do the flowers have pollen? If so then they are male.

Pokeweed

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Re: Mulberries not setting fruit
« Reply #19 on: May 07, 2019, 07:45:51 AM »
We get about 30 inches of rain annually. They get supplemental water every few weeks when we are there. No pollen that I've seen. Just long catkins. I'm just going to put some new blueberries elsewhere for fruit and keep these for shade. Thanks, D