Mulberry Tree - Fruit failure???

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by cathy, Sep 24, 2007.

  1. cathy

    cathy Junior Member

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    Hi,

    This question is for my lovely neighbour who keeps us supplied with happy-chook eggs.

    She has a mulberry tree growing inside her chook pen (it's a huge area with only about ten chooks). The tree flowers, fruit form but then the fruits all shrivel up go brown and die. I did a bit of reading in books and on the internet, but cannot find anything about this problem. Most things say - mulberries, easy to grow, drought tolerant, lots of fruit, woohoo!

    Certainly the ground around the tree is very dry and totally "chook-scratched", but my reading indicates they have a deep root system so this shouldn't be a problem. Also the tree itself and the leaves look just fine.

    Could it be a nutrient problem? Too much nitrogen and not enough potassium perhaps? As I have no experience with mulberry trees (or much of growing anything successfully - yet!) any knowledge or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
    Cathy
     
  2. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    "Drought-tolerant" doesn't mean they don't need water.

    From https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/mulberry.html :

    "Irrigation: Although somewhat drought-resistant, mulberries need to be watered in dry seasons. If the roots become too dry during drought, the fruit is likely to drop before it has fully ripened."

    Sue
     
  3. cathy

    cathy Junior Member

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    Thanks Sue,

    That does sound like what might be happening. I had assumed that as it is a reasonably well-established tree, and our rainfall here is pretty good (about 1100mm per annum) that it would be doing fine without extra watering. However, the ground all around it is totally bare from the chooks, so perhaps it is suffering from lack of moisture retention.

    I'm thinking they need to cordon off the area around the tree so they can mulch it and bring it back to full health. Has anyone come up with a good solution for this. My thinking is mesh, slightly raised, and laid horizontally around the tree... but might this harm the chooks if they walk on it?

    Cheers
    Cathy
     
  4. katwittmann

    katwittmann Junior Member

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    Try a rock or stone mulch. Here we have an abundance of rock just under the thin layer of topsoil, so around and in our chook pen I've established a tamarillo tree and passionfruit vines by protecting initially with a chook wire tube (you won't need to do this with an established tree) and with a skirt of rocks.
    Flat stones look good and because the 'paving' allows water in and the chooks can't scratch up the ground, the surface roots are protected.
    I put a good layer of nice compost or straw or whatever down before I position the stones - not too fussily - you could use the rock/ stone mulch out to the drip line or just as much as you have the materials for. Maybe (quelle horreur!) dig up the soil first so water can more easily get in.
    Good luck.
     
  5. Veggie Boy

    Veggie Boy Junior Member

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    Mine is also dropping a lot of its fruit early this year due to drought.
     

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