How much does a jin of mulberry seeds cost? Including seeding rate per mu, planting methods, and reasons for not bearing fruit

Mulberry is a deciduous tree or shrub in the Moraceae family, genus Morus, flowering in May with catkins. The fruit ripens from June to July; the multiple fruit is oval or cylindrical, dark purple or white. So how much does a jin of its seeds cost? How much is needed per mu? What are the planting methods? Why do some not bear fruit? According to the Jiangsu seedling base, mulberry seed prices are around 29 yuan/jin, with 5-6 jin sown per mu.

What are the methods for planting mulberry seeds?

Sowing methods for mulberry

1. Sowing time: Mulberry can be sown in spring, summer or autumn; for summer and autumn sowing, fresh seeds of the same year can be used. Harvest ripe purple mulberries, rub off the flesh, wash the seeds, and sow immediately or store in moist sand.

2. Seed treatment: Before sowing mulberry, soak the seeds in 50°C warm water, let them cool naturally, then soak for another 12 hours, and store in moist sand to promote germination, keeping them constantly moist; sow once the seed coat cracks and the white shows.

3. Sowing method: When sowing mulberry, open furrows at a row spacing of 20-30 cm and a furrow depth of 1 cm, using 7.5-15 kg of seed per square meter, cover with soil, seedlings emerge in about 10 days, and thin when seedlings are 3-4 cm tall.

Mulberry planting methods

1. Planting time: The planting time for mulberry is from December to March of the following year, transplanting 1000-1200 mulberry seedlings per mu; planting forms include wide-narrow row planting and equal-row planting.

2. Seedling treatment: Sort mulberry seedlings by size and plant them separately; before planting, cut off withered roots and overly long roots, and soak them briefly in mud slurry to improve the survival rate.

3. Planting method: When planting mulberry, the seedlings should be upright and the roots spread out, planted shallowly and firmed, watered thoroughly with settling water, and covered with plastic film (film width 3 chi for wide-narrow rows, 2 chi for equal rows). Check promptly after the mulberry buds sprout, and replant those that have not survived in time.

4. Cutting the trunk and thinning buds: After transplanting mulberry, cut off the seedling trunk 5-7 cun above the ground; when new buds grow to 4-5 cun, select and keep 2-3 strong, well-directed shoots per plant to form vigorous branches; for those with only one bud, pinch the tip when the bud grows to 4-6 cun.

5. Water and fertilizer management: Water mulberry in drought, drain in rainy weather, shallow plow and weed promptly; after thinning buds and pinching tips, apply 10-15 kg of urea per mu or irrigate with biogas slurry, human waste, etc., with the fertilizer amount kept at 1/3 of that for a mature mulberry orchard.

Mulberry orchard management methods

1. Tree form development: In the spring of the second year after planting mulberry, prune the branches about 35 cm above the ground, leaving 2-3 stumps per plant; thereafter prune at this cut point evenly each year.

2. Cultivation and weeding: Mulberry is cultivated once a year after silkworm rearing ends; weeding depends on weed growth conditions, generally 2-3 times a year.

3. Fertilizer management: Mulberry should be fertilized four times a year.

① Spring fertilizer: Spring fertilizer is applied when mulberry buds sprout, 20 kg of urea per mu.

② Summer fertilizer: Summer fertilizer is applied after spring silkworm rearing ends, 20 kg of urea and 25 kg of mulberry-specific compound fertilizer per mu.

③ Autumn fertilizer: Autumn fertilizer is applied after early autumn silkworm rearing ends, 5 kg of urea and 10 kg of mulberry-specific compound fertilizer per mu.

④ Winter fertilizer: Winter fertilizer is applied in early December, 1500-2000 kg of farmyard manure per mu.

4. Pest and disease control: After mulberry spring buds sprout, carry out one pest control treatment with dichlorvos, dimethoate and Sangning; after spring, summer and early autumn silkworm rearing ends, use dichlorvos, dimethoate, Sangning, carbendazim, thiophanate-methyl, etc. for pest and disease control respectively.

Why do some mulberries not bear fruit?

Not every mulberry tree bears fruit, because mulberry, like ginkgo and other trees, is also divided into male and female, the so-called “dioecious”——female trees bear fruit, and only in very rare cases are there monoecious mulberry plants; usually, only female plants bearing female flowers can bear fruit.