Hi, I am not a gardener at all, yet I am trying to make my backyard into a self-sustaining environment for tortoises.
My problem is that I have a good sized mulberry tree in my front yard. It's grown in bad place...near a wall and some type of underground pipe. Because of these obstructions as well as many large rocks deep in the dirt around it's roots, I wasn't able to dig it up with soil entact. I needed to dig around the roots to try to get the rocks out of the way. This took longer than I expected that day and couldn't finish. I put dirt back to cover the roots and today it's leaves we're drooping. I went to put more dirt around the roots and watered it.
What else can I do to save this tree. We had been trying to grow a mulberry tree in our backyard and it never took. This one just grew randomly...and quickly in the front. I really need to keep this tree alive and still need to move it to the backyard. What can I do to not lose my mulberry tree?
Thank you for any help!
BrandonDR
Hi Brandon.
Moving any tree is tricky if you try to do it in the summer period. Always try to do this sort of job when the tree is dormant.
No matter how careful you are, your bound to do root damage and affect the amount of nutrients and water reaching the canopy of the tree.
So for now keep the tree well watered until the fall. Next, if you can do some pruning on it to releive the pressure on the roots it will help to control the water loss from the leaves.
Then move your tree in the winter months.
When you move it try to see how much root you have had to leave behind. If it’s a lot...then you will have to heavily prune the tree to get it into balance.
One thing in your favour is that Mulberries seem to be able to take a hard prune and recover well.
Good luck.
Moving any tree is tricky if you try to do it in the summer period. Always try to do this sort of job when the tree is dormant.
No matter how careful you are, your bound to do root damage and affect the amount of nutrients and water reaching the canopy of the tree.
So for now keep the tree well watered until the fall. Next, if you can do some pruning on it to releive the pressure on the roots it will help to control the water loss from the leaves.
Then move your tree in the winter months.
When you move it try to see how much root you have had to leave behind. If it’s a lot...then you will have to heavily prune the tree to get it into balance.
One thing in your favour is that Mulberries seem to be able to take a hard prune and recover well.
Good luck.