I'm thinking of buying one (for my Somerset neutral clayey soil) but keep
finding conflicting advice. Everyone seems to agree on a black one but some
sources say that it can't be pruned and must have space to grow into a huge
tree whilst others say "best kept as a small bush" and one magazine (Grow
your own) recommended it for a pot. Does anyone have one? The one I've been
looking at is a St James (may be St Johns). All advice most welcome
Hayley

Mulberry can be pruned, you do it midwinter so that the latex doesn't bleed. In places like Greece, where they are grown as street trees, they are routinely pollarded to keep them as a fixed size, typically about 8 feet or so. However I suspect you may lose the fruit if you do this, though I'm not sure. Perhaps the Greeks don't want the fruit dropping on the floor, they like the big leaves to create shape. I trim mine most years to keep it manageable, and the fruit within reach. I'm guessing that if you want to get much of yield of fruit off it, you'll need to let it get to a reasonable size, as it doesn't fruit with the density of a plum or blackcurrant. But I've not seen one grown as a bush or in a pot. But if the people who are recommending this are credible, and are talking about the same plant as you (there is some confusion over names), then perhaps they are right.

That should read "shade". One seller who had both St James and bog standard said he could discern no particular difference; although the St James would tend more reliably to the same habit of its antecedents.

Join a networking site solely meant for people who love gardening. It'll help you a great deal.

"catkin" wrote in message
...
I'm thinking of buying one (for my Somerset neutral clayey soil) but keep
finding conflicting advice. Everyone seems to agree on a black one but
some sources say that it can't be pruned

Yes, it can, when you need to, but it bleeds so should only be done in
midwinter.

and must have space to grow into a huge
tree whilst others say "best kept as a small bush" and one magazine (Grow
your own) recommended it for a pot.

I can see why they might suggest a pot, because it has the shortest growing
season of any tree I have had. However I personally would not pot it. I got
mine at about four feet high and it was several years before it fruited. ( I
am in a low-lying area of North Wales)

Does anyone have one? The one I've been
looking at is a St James (may be St Johns). All advice most welcome
Hayley

Sorry, I don't remember what variety it is, but now it has got going it is
very productive. Ignore the books that tell you to collect the fruit by
placing a sheet under the tree and shaking it. The fruit does not all ripen
at once and in my experience ripeness is no guideline to which ones will
fall off as you are trying to pick from the branch next door!

More advice - mulberry and apple jam. Yummy.
T.

Tahiri writes
Sorry, I don't remember what variety it is, but now it has got going it
is very productive. Ignore the books that tell you to collect the fruit
by placing a sheet under the tree and shaking it. The fruit does not
all ripen at once and in my experience ripeness is no guideline to
which ones will fall off as you are trying to pick from the branch next
door!

My experience is similar. The two processes, of ripening and falling,
seem to be completely unrelated! Unripe fruit will fall, ripe fruit is
capable of hanging on till it rots.

As far as harvesting is concerned, I have a carpet of fine grass and
moss under my tree, and I simply crawl round every day with a couple of
basins, putting good fruit in one and unripe/rotten fruit in the other
(to put on the compost heap). A bit tedious, but worth it for the boxes
and boxes of rich luscious fruit currently in my deep freeze.

I don't prune to keep it down to size (after 15 years it's still no more
than a small tree), but I have been taking out the lower branches to
raise the crown a bit - pertly to make mowing easier, partly because
it's a lot easier to see the fruit from underneath if you're in the
garden and want to browse.

--
Kay