Dwarf Mulberry

[Tony Bebb]

G'day All

A great fruit tree for Bonsai that I don't think we see enough of is the Dwarf Mulberry. They are fast growing with beautiful edible fruit, and are deciduous even in the Qld climate. Although the natural leaf size is quite large, they easily reduce to a very usable size, and you can get them in the cut leaf form. I have had this one for around 22 years, and it is 40 years old. It got set back about 10 years ago with some poor care, and I am recovering its shape.

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If you have one, show us all a photo here and let's see how many there are out there

Tony

[krittas]

Very nice tree Tony and i agree with "not seeing enough of" although reading thru posts of late fruiting trees seem to be making a large come back,so who knows mulberry may make a come back ...

[Tony Bebb]

Soooo. Doesn't anybody have Dwarf Mulberry If I knew they were that rare I might not have sold one on AB a while ago.

I showed you mine, now show me yours. Please.

Tony

[Paulneill]

I removed a layer from a large mulberry shrub in work this year and was amazed at how fast it grew when i removed it . i hope to get some good growth this growing season . the tree i got the layer from was very old and stood about 4 meters tall with cascading branches. i was thinking of training my layer to look the same . but think it may be like fighting a loosing battle because the new growth shoots straight up . the leaves are quite large. I also think it may have some sort of desease because the main tree droppes its leaves in mid summer. and the layer also had a black dot in the heart wood .

[Tony Bebb]

Good on ya Paul

They can grow as fast as a Privet some times. There is a Weeping variety, but when they are big the branches will hang with the length and weight. That's why we could pick them so easy as a kid. If the main one drops it's leaves in mid summer, and then grows back fine, it may just be heat/dry stress. The black dot in the heart wood is just the heart wood, which is dead in most trees. Even mine has the same.

Keep going with it mate, but if you are concerned a fungal spray may be a good idea. If the leaves are good I would not worry. Keep it well tip pruned and you will be surprised at how small they will get. Persistence is the key. Would still love to see a pic mate.

Tony

[Noramay]

I have a few mulberry but I dont think any are dwarf... the smallest one in the garden has white fruit which dont taste as nice it has smaller leaves than the biger yummy tree. what size would the dwarf grow to if planted? and what colour are the fruit?

[bodhidharma]

It was the Mulberry in Harry Tomlinsons book that got me very excited about Bonsai but, alas, i dont have one either

[Tony Bebb]

I have a few mulberry but I dont think any are dwarf... the smallest one in the garden has white fruit which dont taste as nice it has smaller leaves than the biger yummy tree. what size would the dwarf grow to if planted? and what colour are the fruit?

Hi Noramay

I don't know the exact size, but I believe they grow about 1/2 to 2/3 height of the normal Mulberry. The fruit are the same deep purple/red as the normal Mulberry, but a little smaller. This one has reduced its fruit size over the years to be round and smaller tham raspberries. I'll post some pics when they are ripe to show. Interestingly the first year I noticed the fruit reducing, they tasted terrible and bitter even when ripe. It took three years before they came back to being delicious again.

Tony

[MattA]

Hey Tony,
Great little tree, I dont have the dwarf but do have a couple different mulberries cooking in the ground at the moment. A regular Morus nigra, cutleaf & 'Shatoot', all make huge growth in a season, the cutleaf went from a skinny whip to 5cm diameter & 4mtr tall in its first season! My mature 'Shatoot' in sydney is pruned heavily twice a year as it can grow 5m+ in a season.

Nora,
According to the Daleys website the dwarf can be kept to around 3mtrs with regular pruning.

Matt

[Barry1]

Tony I don't have any and have never seen them in nursery's up here in Bundy but they look like a lovely tree to keep as bonsai

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/fruit%20p ... -Black.htm

Cheers
Barry

[jadecuphey87]

What time of the was the layer done. I have an old weeping mulberry, that stands about 6-7m tall very old looking
Very beautiful tree. This dwarf is amazing great job...

[jadecuphey87]

What time of the was the layer done. I have an old weeping mulberry, that stands about 6-7m tall very old looking
Very beautiful tree. This dwarf is amazing great job...

[Meegs]

Hi Tony,
Thankyou for sharing, I love flowering and fruiting bonsai. Yours is beautiful
Is it a layer or grafted?
Thankyou

[Graeme]

Tony, the first time I came across the dwarf mulberry was while I was living in the Territory. It was called the 'Tropical Mulberry' up there. A neighbour had one in his chook yard, which he said was around 12 or 14 years old when I saw it. I guess is would have been somewhere around 3 or 4 metres tall and probably about the same around. The fruit off it were beautiful and sweet, but try as I might I couldn't get a single cutting to strike from it for some weird reason. It wasn't until I visited a well known Brisbane Bonsai Nursery ( ) that I was able to get my hands on one. Have no idea what happened to that particular tree. I do however have a small one in my back yard now that I intend doing something with "one of these days". Must say I do like the look of that one of yours mate.

[Tony Bebb]

Thanks for your comments everyone. Still surprised we have not seen any more

Not sure if it was from seed or cutting Meegs, but I know it was not a layer and is definitely not grafted.

Think I know the nursery you are talking about Graeme

I have a cutting off this tree that I put down as a root-over-rock a few years back that looks like it will come up ok also. As a point of interest Graeme, it is on a rock that I got from you in Darwin on my first ever VTP trip way back in 1996 I think.

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