Morus nigra
Black Mulberry
Common names: Mulberry, Mulberry tree
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −25 °C
- Pruning
- Feb, Mar, Aug
- Harvest
- Jul–Sep
- Spacing
- 500 cm, rows 600 cm
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Public Domain · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
The Black Mulberry is a long-lived, picturesque tree with deep dark, blackberry-like fruits of intensely sweet-tart flavor. The ripe berries are richly colored, and picking them fresh from the tree is a summer delight; they are also suitable for jam and syrup. It is robust and requires little care.
Care instructions
Plant the mulberry in a sunny, warm spot with ample space, as it grows into a stately tree. Water during the first years when dry. Prune sparingly and only in late summer, because the tree bleeds heavily and tolerates large cuts poorly. Harvest the fruit when fully ripe from July to September, best by shaking onto a cloth.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestJul–Sep
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, sandy, well-drained, humus-rich, lime-loving, nutrient-rich
You can plant the black mulberry in almost any common garden soil, as long as it is well drained and does not become waterlogged; that is its greatest enemy. It is lime-tolerant, likes loose, humus-rich, rather dry soils and copes well with a slightly acidic to alkaline pH; heavy loam soils you loosen with sand and ripe compost before planting.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In early spring, work ripe compost shallowly into the tree circle and add a little horn shavings; that is usually enough for the undemanding mulberry for the whole year. On lean sites or with young trees you can add a second light helping of compost in late spring. Go easy on nitrogen, otherwise it produces a lot of leaf instead of fruit.
Pruning
Your mulberry needs little pruning: a light thinning cut in late winter (Feb/March) is enough, alternatively in summer after harvest. Cut only small branches and avoid hard cutting back, because mulberries bleed heavily and bear most fruit on wood you would otherwise remove.
Overwintering
Plant the black mulberry in a sunny, wind-sheltered spot facing south or west, preferably against a house wall, and avoid frost pockets. Young trees you protect in the first years: a thick layer of leaves and brushwood over the root zone and the trunk wrapped in hessian or winter fleece; prune only late in winter or in spring shortly before growth starts. Trees in containers you bring in bright, cool and frost-free. Older, established trees in a sheltered location usually get through winter without protection.
Propagation
Methods
- Cuttings
- Layering
- From seed
Layering (the most reliable method in the home garden): The black mulberry is difficult to root from cuttings, so layering is the surest way. In late summer or autumn, bend a flexible shoot near the ground in a curve down to the soil, bury the bend 10 to 15 cm deep and weigh it down with a stone. Lead the upper end of the shoot vertically out of the ground and tie it to a small stake. Injure the bark lightly at the buried spot; this promotes root formation. Keep the spot evenly moist. Once it has formed its own root system by the next spring/early summer, separate the layer from the mother shrub and transplant it.
Cuttings (possible, but demanding): Morus nigra is considered hard to root, so expect failures. Semi-ripe softwood cuttings in early summer (June to July) are most likely to succeed: cut shoots 10 to 20 cm long at an angle and remove all leaves except the top pair. Insert them into a well-drained substrate lightened with sand and keep them warm (about 18 to 22 °C), bright and in a closed, very humid place (mini greenhouse or plastic cover), but without waterlogging; otherwise the cuttings easily rot. Hardwood cuttings that you take in winter (February/March) and insert into garden soil lightened with sand are the less certain variant and often fail; here it is better to take several at once.
Sowing (only for species traits, not true to type): Mulberries grown from seed differ from the mother plant in growth and fruit quality. For a particular variety, therefore, always propagate vegetatively (layering/cutting). If you try it anyway: the seeds need a cold period. Mix them with moist sand and store them cool (fridge) for about 6 to 8 weeks before sowing them in spring shallowly (barely covered) in sowing substrate at around 18 to 24 °C in a bright place. Keep the substrate slightly moist, not wet. Germination is uneven and can take several weeks.
Note on grafting: Professionals and nurseries graft the black mulberry onto a rootstock when there are rooting problems (usually white mulberry, Morus alba). In the home garden this is unusual and demanding; for most gardeners layering is the more practical way to a true-to-type plant.
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