| We have a mulberry tree in our yard and would be interested in knowing if we would be able to propagate more and how we would go about it. |
| The seeds from mulberry fruit germinate rapidly and might be the easiest way for you have lots of new little mulberry trees. In fact, birds like to eat mulberries and the seeds pass through them without harm. You're likely to find baby mulberry trees growing along fence rows in your neighborhood if your tree is producing fruit. If you have a fruitless (male) mulberry, or if you don't want to collect and germinate seeds from the fruit of your mulberry, you can take cuttings from the tree, or propagate by air layering. Take softwood cuttings in early summer, or semi-ripe cuttings in late summer. (Softwood cuttings are new growth that is still pliable; semi-ripe are those same stems, but by the end of summer are developing bark at the base where they meet the limb.) Cut a stem that's about 12" long, remove the lower leaves, dip the cut end in rooting hormone and place it in the ground or in a pot filled with moistened growing medium. Mulberry should root readily and you'll know roots have developed when new leaves appear along the stem or at the top of the cutting. |
