For good growth and development of fruit trees, including mulberries, pruning is necessary from time to time. Get familiar with the main reasons and step-by-step instructions for forming a crown for decorative, anti-aging and sanitary purposes.
Causes and rules for pruning mulberries
Is it possible to lay out a mini version of the English park on the site? What to do if productivity drops sharply? These and other issues are resolved by trimming the crown.
When and why pruning is done:
- To rejuvenate the tree and increase its productivity. Gardeners prune a plant if the quality and quantity of the crop noticeably decreases (for example, the fruits fall to the ground before they ripen, there are few berries or they become small, etc.). Removing unnecessary infertile branches will "unload" the root system, which means that mulberry will release new fruitful shoots and direct nutrients to the formation of fruits. In addition, reducing the number of branches will facilitate pollination of flowers, which will affect the increase in productivity (this is more true for young trees).
- In order to prevent disease. An overly thickened tree crown can provoke the development of a fungus (powdery mildew, brown spotting), which also affects other cultures. Regular thinning of the crown will allow the branches to receive the necessary amount of sunlight, as well as to avoid or significantly reduce the contact of healthy branches with the diseased.
- When forming a crown. Correctly formed crown will provide the mulberry with the most favorable conditions for development and life. Trimming is used not only for practical, but also for decorative purposes.
There are several rules, observing which, the gardener will save the tree from injuries and damage during the procedures:
- Keep in mind that the purpose of cropping affects the time it takes. Sanitary is better to carry out in the fall, and rejuvenating or forming it is desirable to postpone until spring.
- If you want to shorten the shoot, on which there is a kidney, the cut must be done at an angle of 50about 0.5-1 cm higher than her.
- If you remove the whole branch, position the blade exactly perpendicular to the surface to get a smooth cut.
- Use special tools. A pruning shear is suitable for cutting thin shoots, no thicker than 2.7 cm, for working with thicker branches (from 2.5 to 3.5 cm in diameter) or shoots located in hard-to-reach places - a delimber, and if you need to remove more larger branches, then use a garden saw. Note that it is impossible to replace it with ordinary carpentry, since the blade of the gardener's tool is designed so as not to injure the tree during work.
Correctly selected tools will simplify the pruning process and protect the tree from injuries, the place to cut must be treated with a garden var
Be sure to sanitize garden tools after use with purified alcohol or fire to prevent the transmission of infections from one tree to another.
Formative tree pruning
Choose a cropping method based on your goals. With due patience and zeal, the result will be the same as in the photo illustrations.
Simple (to increase yield)
If you do not pursue the goal of making mulberry a decoration of the site, but only want to get a quality crop, it is enough to just form the crown of the tree.
Start immediately after planting a seedling in the ground. The crown formation procedure, as a rule, applies only to one- and two-year-old seedlings. Like other fruit trees, for mulberry this procedure takes several years.
Table: tree crown formation by years
| Permanent seat age | First year | Second year | Third year | Fourth and subsequent years |
| Annual seedling | Description: as a rule, the shoot does not have lateral processes. Trimming Activities:
| Description: the shoot has strong side branches. Trimming Activities:
| The mulberry consists of a central shoot (trunk) and several crown-forming (skeletal) branches. A three-year-old tree is considered an adult, therefore, forming pruning is not necessary. | If necessary, sanitary pruning is carried out, in which non-viable parts of the tree are removed. |
| Two year old seedling | Description: The shoot has strong lateral branches. Trimming Activities:
| A three-year-old tree does not need forming pruning, it is enough sanitary (if necessary). | Check for nonviable branches and shoots and get rid of them in a timely manner | Keep your mulberry in good shape with sanitary measures |
Regular pruning will allow you to get a mulberry tree (bush) of the kind you want
The optimum mulberry height depends on the region in which it grows. In the southern regions, you need to trim the trunk so that it is no higher than 3 m - firstly, it is more convenient to harvest, and secondly, the tree will not spend energy on further growth, but will direct them to the formation of fruits. Residents of the northern latitudes do not need this: in a cold climate, the plant does not grow more than 2 m.
Decorative (for beauty)
There are several ways to aesthetically shape the mulberry crown. In this case, starting events is also better with seedlings no older than two years.
Magnificent spherical crown of a mulberry
When forming a spherical crown, you need to leave long branches in the center, and shorter ones above and below: the more work, the better the “ball” looks
- Make a shtamb, cutting off all side shoots to a height of 1-1.5 m.
- Shorten the central shoot to 2-4 m, taking into account the height of the stem. Once every 2 years, it must be cut to 1/3.
- The lateral branches are processed according to the following scheme: cut the lowest branches 1/3 of the length, closer to the center 1/4, while the longest shoots should remain in the middle. Shorten the branches at the top by 1/3, in the middle - by 1/4. The main thing is that all the shoots at the same level should be of equal length and not bulge out of the crown.
Broom pruning for gardening
Mulberry with a broom-shaped crown will become a spectacular decorative element on a personal plot or in a park
- Make a shtamb by shortening all the side branches to a height of 1-1.5 m.
- Choose 3-4 of the strongest shoots, growing horizontally at about the same level (divergence angle - about 120about), and cut them to the fourth kidney, counting from the trunk.
- Equate the central conductor to the upper skeletal branch. This can be done not immediately, but in 1-2 years after the main pruning - in this case, the trunk of your mulberry tree will get better.
- In subsequent years, remove all branches from the side shoots growing inside the crown.
Features of Weed Mulberry Pruning
If you planted weeping mulberry, then you can form its crown of any length, even to the ground, most importantly, carry out formative procedures in time and trim the overgrown shoots in a timely manner. Note that the optimal length of such shoots is approximately 30 cm.
As in the case of ordinary varieties, seedlings no older than two years are suitable for forming a crown.
It is possible to form a crown of weeping mulberry of any length, the main thing is to prevent "shaggy" (shoots should be the same)
- Get a shtamb up to 1.5 m long by removing all side shoots.
- Cut the dangling annual shoots located above to the third or fourth kidney, counting from the trunk. The remaining kidney should be facing out.
- In the second and third years, the newly formed annual shoots cut into the fifth or sixth kidney, counting from the trunk. As in the previous case, the kidney remaining from the edge should grow outward.
- For the fourth and subsequent years, trim the branches. Continue this procedure until the crown of the desired length grows.
If you buy a mulberry seedling older than 5-6 years old in the nursery, the crown has already been formed (this applies to both ordinary and decorative). You only have to carry out sanitary pruning from time to time.
How to shape a bush
If you want to get a neat bush, it is advisable to choose seedlings on which there are already shoots. For an annual plant without shoots, it is better to postpone the event until next year, so that the branches grow over the summer period.
Table: bush pruning rules
| First year | Second year | Third year | |
| Formation Activities |
|
| The bush is considered fully formed (consists of 4-8 skeletal branches). It is necessary to delete:
|
In the future, care is reduced to sanitary pruning (removal of horizontal shoots, branches growing close to the ground and shortening of too long shoots to 30 cm).
Mulberry Seasonal Pruning
Seasonal pruning of mulberries is recommended twice a year - in spring and autumn. At this time, the tree is either at rest or immersed in it, so this procedure will be the least traumatic.
Autumn procedures
Trimming is carried out after the crown falls, and the temperature should not be lower than -10aboutC, otherwise the sections will not heal well. The algorithm is as follows:
- Examine the tree and cut out all diseased, dried and twisted branches, and also remove the shoots growing inside the crown.
- If the mulberry has formed a horizontal shoot (young plants grown next to an adult tree), then remove it too.
- Coat large sections (reaching more than 1 cm in diameter) with garden varieties or drying oil based paints.
Sanitary pruning should be carried out 1 time in several years. If your mulberry is distinguished by the rapid formation of new shoots (as a rule, this applies to trees growing in the southern regions), then such events are held once every 3-4 years. If shoot formation is moderate, which is characteristic of the middle zone and cold northern regions, then this period can be doubled. Remove diseased and dried branches as needed.
Video: features of autumn pruning
Spring care
It is best to trim during the period of complete rest of the mulberry - from late February to early March. If you cannot complete the procedures at this time, then this period can be extended in the most extreme case until mid-April. At this time, in the mulberry, the vigorous sap flow does not begin and the buds do not open, so the treatment will be the least painless. Like autumn, spring pruning must be carried out at a temperature not lower than -10aboutFROM. Do not forget that in the spring, activities are usually carried out to form and rejuvenate the tree.
Video: working with the crown in spring
Anti-aging treatments for old wood
- First thin out the crown. To do this, cut out all the diseased branches, and also remove the branches growing vertically, inside the crown, clinging to each other.
- Cut the fourth and fifth order shoots. They, as a rule, are low-yielding, but can drag nutrients onto themselves and interfere with the development of productive branches.
- Coat large sections with garden varieties or oil based varnishes.
In order not to immediately get rid of a large number of branches, it is advisable to carry out anti-aging pruning in several stages. In the first year - the oldest and sickest branches, in the second - uncomfortably growing, etc., continuing until the mulberry has acquired the necessary appearance.
Summing up, we can say that pruning mulberry does not have any difficulties, and even a beginner can completely cope with this procedure. Following all the recommendations, you will definitely get a healthy beautiful tree and large yields will not keep you waiting.
