Paper Mulberry, desperate for help!

[MeganMMcMillen]

We have a paper mulberry that decided to grow between our air conditioner, and our house. We tried and tried to kill it, but it refused to die. We don't get on well with our neighbors, so I decided to dig it up and use it as a "fence". Because of the cords and such from the air conditioner, this is impossible​. Trust me, I had blood pouring down my arms! LOL! I did manage to get a good bit of the roots exposed, and my question is: is there a way to take a cutting from the root to replant? I've read how invasive and hard to kill they are, so I figure I at least have a chance. PLEASE help! I've joined 3 different gardening forums on Facebook to try to get an answer for this, and nothing so far!

[applestar]

Do you have any upper portions left or did you chop it down to roots? When I have rampantly growing trees and shrubs, I prune or cut them, strip them of leaves, and store them leaning on the fence near the garden, and when I need sticks/poles/stakes for plant support I use these. Sometimes in the fall, I find that these branches have rooted during the growing season. Mulberry is one of those that sometimes root.

I've learned to use the ones that root too easily upside down from the way they were growing to prevent them.

Another way you could probably get them to grow roots is to ground-layer them.

I know some plants can be root propagated, but I'm not familiar with the technique.

[jeff84]

just cut off branches and stick them in the ground. keep them watered well, they should root, even if they initially drop all their leaves and appear dead, just keep them watered and most if not all should spring to life come springtime.

as you said and have heard they are very difficult to kill.

[john gault]

I had three paper mulberry trees in my yard (all males that don't set fruit). They are incredibly invasive and their root system goes every where. I had to dig a trench of a new water line to my house and it was incredible how many of these roots I had to rip out.

I chopped down all my paper mulberry trees and every time a sucker pops up I rip it out of the ground, you don't have to take the entire root system out, just rip out the suckers and eventually the root system will die of starvation. I suppose there is some type of spray you could use, but I don't use any sprays in my yard, including the so-called organic sprays.

I had logs of this tree re-sprout, so yes it's easy to get a cutting and replant. However, unless you're getting fruit these trees are just not worth it to me, too invasive and they are subject to serious insect infestation. All my trees had serious insect damage.

P.S. Even if I was getting fruit, I think I'd still chop them down.