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The tree of the Mulberry family, which we used to call mulberry, grows in the wild in Asia, Africa and North America. The conditions of the subtropical and temperate climatic zones are suitable for him; the mulberry tree does not tolerate severe frosts. But there are natural and artificially bred hybrids that grow and bear fruit well in Central Our Country and even to the north. The mulberry (mulberry) is famous for its delicious vitamin berries and the fact that its leaves are fed to useful caterpillars – silkworm larvae.
Decorative species for landscaping
The cultivation of mulberry trees takes place on a vast territory suitable for them in terms of climatic conditions, not only for a utilitarian purpose, very often the mulberry tree is used as an ornamental tree. Trees with beautiful foliage that tolerate pruning well are often planted in city parks, flower beds are decorated with them, green hedges are created from them, original umbrellas that cover shade-loving flowers or recreation areas from the sun.
There are three main types of mulberry: black, red and white. Black comes from Afghanistan and Iran, it grows up to 15 m, forms a spreading crown, loves warmth more than anyone else and suffers from frost, in a snowless winter, a temperature of -10 degrees can already become fatal for it. Therefore, it is grown only in the southern regions. More common in park culture are red and white mulberries.
The red mulberry is a hardy and cold-resistant tree, it is undemanding in terms of soil, easily tolerates periods of drought, and does not suffer from exhaust gases and other air pollution. She came to us from North America, grows to a height of 10 – 20 m, forms a crown in the form of a large tent, on a trunk with a brownish bark. Its long leaves, up to 12 cm, pointed at the ends, look quite original – they are rough on the upper side, and slightly felted on the lower side. Fruits of dark red, almost black color ripen at the end of June. There is a very decorative variety of red mulberry – its leaves are covered with white fluff on the underside. It has been successfully applied in landscape gardening art.
The birthplace of white mulberry is China. This powerful tree of the Mulberry family grows up to 20 m tall, forming a spherical crown. Its bark is covered with a pattern of small cracks, young shoots are colored greenish-gray or even reddish, and the leaves are surprising in that they can differ in shape and size on the same tree.
The leaves are dark green in summer, glossy in some varieties, and in autumn they turn yellow very beautifully, turning the whole tree into a yellow ball. Sweet berries are painted in different colors – they are cream, pinkish, milky, slightly gray, red, dark inky, black.
White mulberry is considered the most unpretentious and persistent species, it grows well in the conditions of a modern city, which may be why there are so many decorative forms of it that are planted on the streets and in parks. Weeping mulberry with thin drooping branches grows no higher than 5 meters, looks beautiful in single and group plantings, it is often planted on the streets. The spherical perfectly retains the round shape of its crown, and the pyramidal one grows up to 8 m, its dark green candle in summer turns into a yellow torch in autumn. The large-leaved mulberry surprises with its long, up to 22 cm, leaves, and the narrow-leaved one is grown as a bush with small, rough leaves. The main decoration of the dissected mulberry is the leaves cut into regular lobes, with the middle and lateral lobes being much longer than the rest. And in the golden mulberry, the leaves and young shoots are painted in a joyful golden yellow color.
Mulberry (or mulberry), due to its unpretentiousness, durability and spectacular appearance, is often planted on city streets, decorative hedges are formed from it, and alleys are formed. In gardens and parks, it can be an accent among flower beds or a beautiful design of individual zones or arbors.
Video “Mulberry tree varieties”
From the video you will learn what mulberry is.
Cultivation of mulberry species
A tree of the Mulberry family is usually planted in the country in order to enjoy its tasty, usually very sweet or sweet and sour fruits in the summer. Mulberry fruits contain glucose, fructose, sucrose, malic and citric acid, essential oils, fatty acids and lipids. They are easily absorbed by the body, enriching it with vitamins: C, B1, B2, PP, E, K, carotene. A large amount of potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, copper, manganese, zinc, selenium make them useful for anemia, metabolic disorders, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, biliary tract and heart. Traditional medicine advises the use of fruits, leaves, bark for the treatment of many diseases. Of course, it is most useful to eat fresh berries, but desserts are often prepared from them, they are harvested for the winter in the form of compotes, jams, and wine is made from them.
Dense and heavy mulberry wood has long been used in its homeland (in Central Asia) for the manufacture of musical instruments, barrels and souvenirs. It was from it that the first paper was made in ancient China even before our era. And we grow mulberry to eat its fruits or to feed silkworm caterpillars with leaves. Black mulberry is cultivated in regions with a warm climate, it easily tolerates drought, grows on any soil, is not afraid of air pollution, but in a snowless winter, frosts of only -10 degrees are enough for it to freeze. Popular varieties with delicious fruits are: “Black Prince”, “Black Pearl”, “Royal”, “Hope”. A special remontant mulberry has been bred, which can be grown in a container, and the Shelley No. 150 hybrid has berries larger than 5 cm, but it strikes not with this, but with huge leaves, over 50 cm long.
In the Moscow region, white mulberry is more often grown, it is even more unpretentious, and most importantly, frost-resistant. Sweet fruits may differ in color in different varieties, they look like raspberries or blackberries in their shape. The most common varieties are: “White Honey”, “Smuglyanka”, “White Tenderness”, “Black Baroness”, “Ukrainian-6”, “Staromoskovskaya”. In the Middle lane, “Vladimirskaya”, “Royal”, “Staromoskovskaya” and “White honey” grow and bear fruit well.
Characteristic features of the plant
The tree of the Mulberry family grows and bears fruit for a very long time, it is believed that it lives up to 200 years, but trees are known at the age of 300 and even 500 years. And in Jericho grows mulberry, in the shade of which Jesus Christ rested. Many oriental legends are connected with mulberry, among some nations it is considered a sacred tree.
A young tree grows very quickly, and a mature tree seems to stop growing, but continues to actively bear fruit. Among mulberry trees, there are monoecious plants that develop both male and female flowers at the same time, and there are dioecious plants that need a tree of the opposite sex to bear fruit. Certain inconveniences are associated with this – until the young tree blooms, it is impossible to know whether it will bear fruit, so it is better to buy seedlings 4-5 years old, on which fruits have already appeared.
In fact, it is incorrect to call a false berry, which we eat with pleasure, a fruit. The fact is that mulberry flowers are collected in a brush, in monoecious plants they are perfectly pollinated with the help of the wind, fruits develop from them – drupes, which, ripening on an overgrown stalk, form a brush of drupes, so we eat it, calling it a fruit. In fact, each such false berry consists of many small juicy fruits tightly adjacent to each other.
Types of mulberries (red, white and black) differ not in the color of the berries, but in the color of the bark of the trunk. In all varieties of white mulberry, regardless of the color of the berries, it is the lightest – light brown in color, like a cappuccino foam with cinnamon. In red – with a red tint, and in black – dark, covered with cracks at any age.
Planting and caring for them
This unpretentious tree of the Mulberry family can be planted in a permanent place of growth in the spring before the start of sap flow or in the fall, at the end of the growing season. This usually happens in April or October. A place for it is chosen sunny, but protected from the cold north wind, the soil can be any, except for frankly sandy, swampy or saline, and groundwater should not come closer to the surface than 1,5 m. The hole must be dug deep and wide – the roots should be loose, they should not be crushed or bent, and you still need to leave room in the fertilizer pit. For spring planting, it is advisable to prepare a hole in the fall, dig it, lay a few kilograms (5 – 7) of compost or humus on the bottom, add up to 100 g of superphosphate, and sprinkle with soil on top so that the roots do not come into contact with fertilizers. For spring planting, do the same at least 3 weeks before planting the seedling.
The plant is placed in a prepared pit, straightening all the roots, carefully covered with earth, lightly tamped, watered with two buckets of water, after which the trunk circle is mulched. If the seedling is still weak and fragile, it is better to drive a strong stick into the bottom of the pit, and tie a tree trunk to it. If the soil is clayey, a drainage layer is made at the bottom of the pit.
Further, the tree is looked after, as usual, it is watered, fed, cut, saved from weeds, protected from pests and diseases. The tree is watered and fertilized only in spring and in the first half of summer – until the beginning of July. Too much moisture is not needed, it is worth watering only if there is no rain at all. When fertilizing is introduced, they are distributed as follows: in spring, the plant needs nitrogen, and later potassium and phosphorus. Since July, no fertilizer has been given to the tree.
Tree pruning is designed to form the correct crown, free the tree from damaged or frozen branches. Each species requires its own shape, the standard tree must be formed so that there is always a lush head of hair on the bare trunk – a spherical crown or a falling cascade, the crown should not be too thick so that all the branches have enough sunlight and air. At the weeping mulberry, the branches are shortened, the crown is thinned out.
A fruit tree in your garden needs to be cut, forming a crown that is convenient for the owner. From a young tree, all shoots must be removed so that the trunk at a height of 1,5 m remains bare. If you want to grow a tall tree, then the central conductor should be allowed to grow up to 5 – 6 m, and its competitors should be removed.
If you need a low tree from which it is convenient to harvest, then the central shoot is shortened at a height of approximately 150 – 170 cm, 8 – 10 skeletal branches are kept, and the rest are removed. Usually, such formative pruning is done in the spring, and in the fall they do sanitary pruning – they remove broken, dried up or branches growing inside the crown.
Mulberry is propagated by cuttings or root offspring. You can grow it from seed, but such plants do not retain the characteristics of the mother tree. The mulberry tree tolerates vaccinations well.
Mulberry leaves are eaten not only by silkworm caterpillars, but other pests also like to feast on them. Caterpillars of the American white butterfly and the mulberry moth can damage the tree, as can the spider mite or Comstock mealybug. “Chlorophos” will get rid of caterpillars, and “Kleshchevit” or “Aktellik” – from sucking insects. But it is better to carry out prevention – in the spring, you can treat the tree and the near-trunk circle with a 7% solution of urea, which will simultaneously become nitrogen top dressing. The tree can be affected by powdery mildew, cylindrosporiosis, bacteriosis or brown leaf spot, there are special remedies for treatment. But mulberry rarely gets sick, it is a very resistant healthy tree.
Video “Planting and caring for mulberries”
From the video you will learn how to properly plant and care for mulberries.
