Mulberry Planting Techniques and Management Methods Explained in Detail

Mulberry (sang shen), also written as sang ren, is the ripe fruit of the mulberry tree, the fruit cluster of the mulberry, a plant in the Moraceae family. It is also known as mulberry fruit, mulberry cane, mulberry jujube, mulberry berry, mulberry pao'er, black mulberry, and so on. Farmers like to eat its ripe fresh fruit; it is sweet and juicy, and is one of the fruits people commonly eat. Mulberries are harvested each year in April to June when the fruit ripens; after removing impurities, they are sun-dried, or lightly steamed and then sun-dried for eating, and can also be used to make wine.

Planting Methods

Mulberry Variety Selection

For fresh eating mulberries mainly, it is suitable to plant Wu Zi Da Shi and Hong Guo No. 2. The former has excellent fruit flavor and ripens early; the latter has high yield and is relatively cold-tolerant. For the purpose of processing mulberry juice and the like, it is suitable to choose Hong Guo No. 1, Hong Guo No. 2, and 8632. Hong Guo No. 1 is cold-tolerant and especially high-yielding. Note that no matter which variety is planted, 5-10% male plants must be included as pollinator trees.

Mulberry Planting Density

The Wu Zi Da Shi variety has relatively soft branches and a loose tree form, so use a row spacing of 150cm and plant spacing of 120cm (370 plants per mu); other varieties have upright branches and a compact tree form, so use 130cm x 100cm or 130cm x 130cm.

Mulberry Planting Method

The planting period is from after leaf fall in late autumn to before bud break in early spring of the following year. Level the land, dig trenches 50cm deep according to the plant and row spacing, and apply farmyard manure and phosphate fertilizer. Separate the purchased mulberry seedlings by size, arrange the fruiting trees and pollinator trees in a reasonable matching layout, and water thoroughly after planting to set the roots.

Mulberry Pruning Techniques

Before bud break in early spring, cut flat at a height of 40cm from the ground. In early June, for robustly growing branches, leave 15-20cm and cut flat to encourage side buds. That year, strengthen water, fertilizer, and pest management to make them grow quickly. In the spring of the second year there will be an initial mulberry harvest; after harvesting the fruit, shape and prune the mulberry tree, selecting and keeping 3-4 thick strong branches per plant, leaving 15-20cm at the base and cutting flat to form scaffold branches. New branches sprouting on the scaffold branches are the fruiting branches for the next year.

Key Points of High-Yield Mulberry Techniques

1. Cover with plastic film each spring; this can both advance mulberry ripening and effectively prevent and control mulberry sclerotinia disease and mulberry gall midge damage, and is an important technical measure for sustained high quality and high yield of mulberry fruit.

2. Fruit mulberry growth requires boron; after bud break in spring, when controlling pests and diseases during the flowering period, add 0.1% boron fertilizer, which can save labor and increase efficiency.

3. Fertilization should be mainly organic fertilizer, supplemented by chemical fertilizer; mainly summer pruning sprouting fertilizer, supplemented by others; n, p, k should be properly matched.

4. During the young fruit swelling period, choose 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate and the like for foliar fertilization, which is beneficial for increasing fruit sugar content and color.