Tree Growth Pattern

[damnyankee36]

I have a 3 year old mulberry tree. At the moment, the lower branches are about 3' off the ground. As this tree grows, can I expect the trunk, therefore the lower branches, to grow upwards?

I had a 30 year old mulberry at another house and the branches were high enough to walk under.

I'd like to be able to do that with this tree, but I'm not sure if I should cut off these lower branches as they seem to be a major portion of the tree structure. I don't think I would have much tree left. It has a very nice shape now.

[Northernfox]

your tree looks well enough established to deal with pruning. That said I don't know much about mulberry trees. It will likely have a best time of the year to prune and you can increase the clearance.

Let us know how it goes!

[rainbowgardener]

I think the question is does the trunk grow from the bottom, so that as the trunk gets taller the branches are raised up with it or does the trunk grow from the top, so the branches stay put, even though the trunk is getting taller. I'm thinking it grows from the top, so that if you want more clearance, you have to prune some branches.

[tomc]

You will need to prune low branches. The top grows up, not from the ground.

Prune one or two low branches if you want a landscape tree. If you want to harvest fruit you will need to coppice it short.