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Black mulberry tree
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Posted: Jun/04/2008 11:53 AM PST
My husband and I bought a house 3years ago and it has a black mulberry tree in the back yard. The first season in the house the tree bloomed and we had terrific berries, plenty of birds, turtles (there is a lake that butts up to our property)ducks, geese, you name it. The tree needed to be trimmed back so the second year we trimmed the limbs back and when it came time to bloom, the tree produced no fruit. We thought we had trimmed it back at the wrong time and did not think much more about it other than it was very shocking to have no berries last year. This year, on time the tree bloomed and was full, almost to the point of overly saturated with berries. However, something strange happened. No sooner than the berries ripened, they dried up on the tree and now the leaves of the tree are turning yellow and the tree looks like it is September or October. Can anyone tell me what might be going on |
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Posted: Jun/04/2008 12:34 PM PST
Not a clue  My white mulberry does tend to look pretty bad come the middle of the summer, so it may just be that it's a combination of LOTS of berries and summer. Just throwing out ideas as I really don't know much of anything about mulberry trees 
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Posted: Jun/09/2008 4:03 PM PST
Angelab Sorry to hear of your tree trouble. I hope I might be able to help. First off when you said you and your husband trimmed it back, Im not sure if it was the right time of year to trim, as much as the correct area to trim. Most fruit trees have to have "fruit wood" or small branches that are two years or older in order to produce fruit. So if these smaller branches were removed when you trimmed, the tree has no "fruit wood" the next year to put buds on, so no fruit. Also, some trees only produce every other year. Although you had no fruit for a year your tree knows what it is supposed to do, produce fruit. Which it did in abundance. When a tree is overloaded with fruit it must produce extra energy to support the growth. This causes stress, which will cause the tree to shed the extra fruit. It sounds as if this is the case with your Mulberry. A couple things you may want to try are: 1. Apply firtilizer stakes. These can be purchased from any nursery or from most hardware stores. Measure your tree and apply stakes as directed. Where your tree is right on a lake, the extra water can easily wash away the nutrients your tree needs to support extra growth and fruit. These stakes should help a lot. 2. Although you are on a lake, watering should take place at just a few feet from the base of your tree. I recommend placing a hose several feet from the base of your tree, turn on at a small trickle and leave for several hours. Always remember sprinklers are NOT a sufficient method for watering trees. 3. I will not criticize anybodys methods of pruning, however you may want to contact a certified arborist to look at your tree to be sure your problems aren't more severe. Good luck with your tree, I hope all goes well, t-n-j |
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Posted: Jul/21/2008 3:01 PM PST
I'm not sure about the leaves turning yellow but I can tell you this...Mulberries are actually biannual producers of berries. There will hardly be any berries one year and the next the tree is saturated. It gets saturated because it has stored all that sugar for a year so when it produces the berries it seems to go overboard. I believe my arborist told me that the best time to cut back a mulberry tree is after the berries are done. This way you aren't cutting off any of the buds it is forming or getting rid of its sugar supply. Hope it helps! |
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