Mulberry bonsai beginner

[squarel]

Hello! I am a beginner and studying a great bonsai book, but I could also use some quick expert insight. There's a list of questions at the end. Thank you for reading!


This is my mulberry one year and one month old, overtaking it's mesh pest protection. It is four trunks; two white two black, supported by a stake. At the bottom right is the portable home I'd intended for it.

Near me in Pennsylvania USA there is a mulberry tree cluster with black and white mulberries, and I decided to bonsai it from seed with no experience. It was seeded from white and black berries at peak yield in mid June 2023. I had to leave it with a friend for a while, who gave it rich fiberous unknown commercial soil in a bigger pot than I intended. She kept it indoors over winter and it grew ~35 cm in the first year. I moved it outside gradually from shade to full sun and it quickly doubled in height.

- Is it still possible for me to train it to be small without killing it? If not, I will plant it to grow wild.

- If I plant it to grow wild, how can I ensure it will survive winter?

- What time of year is best to trim its branches and roots to make it tiny?

- what are guidelines for letting a bonsai or potted plant experience all of the seasons and weather conditions and indoors and outdoors? I imagine this can help it harden and become adaptive over a long and varied life.

- In the pot are also some special small strawberries and millet seedlings. What problems may these cause?

Again thank you!

 

[stubmle]

Most bonsai are cut down from larger trees- you can grow them up but it takes longer. With deciduoud trees it is common to let them grow freely and then chop them back severely to regrow from the stump. So don't worry about it getting too big! Many people even plant their trees in the ground to bulk up faster.

This tree should be kept outside always, even in winter. You can find lots of threads on this forum describing how to do so. If planted in the ground, it should need no special protection once the roots have established.

Traditional wisdom is to repot in late Winter or early Spring, just as the tree is waking up from dormancy. Some growers advocate doing so after the Summer solstice as well (this is a contentious topic).

The soil the tree is in is not ideal, but does not need to be dealt with immediately- just watch your watering and make sure it stays somewhat moist but not soaking. If planting in the ground, don't bother replacing the soil. If you want to keep it in a pot, fix it next Spring.

Pruning can be done any time of year really, but you'll see different results depending on timing. I am not familiar with mulberry specifically, but you should be able to find information about this on the forum or elsewhere.

Having other plants in the pot can cause problems if they out-compete the tree and steal nutrients. Some people keep other plants in there for display purposes. Your call!

If this were my tree? I'd plant it in a nice sunny location and let it thicken up for at least a few years, then dig it up, chop it low, and move it to a grow box or training pot.

What are your goals with the tree? What final size do you envision? What style?

Could we get additional pictures showing the trunk?

Oh, and welcome to crazy!!

 

[squarel]

Thank you stubmle for this relieving insight, and thank you for asking!

The mature white and black mulberry cluster seems unique and beautiful and yin yang and has memories of family and friends. I like to imagine preserving a portable version that grafts itself into a single multi-berry tree.

Just yesterday I found the perfect $3 reference at a secondhand bookstore! In Crowood Gardening Guides: Bonsai, author David Pike writes "Who knows, one day bonsai may be the only way to keep a tree in our concrete planet."

I am also a computer hobbyist and want to learn sysadmin skills for linking and preserving my projects across hardware and virtual machines. Vaguely related, I like to imagine a technology that enables any plant to be encapsulated in any state in modules that require zero maintenance besides electricity. A little gardening taught me how far that is! I don't want to be overwhelmed with gardening so my plants are fairly small and discrete. When it's light tomorrow I'll photograph those closeups and my vertical melon

 

[squarel]

Could we get additional pictures showing the trunk?
Oh, and welcome to crazy!!

Left: The thickest trunk is 6mm. Middle: Some of the growth has had white fuzz, hopefully not a serious disease! Right: Due to some accidents and repeated pests, the right most image is my only current white mulberry, and more whites have been restarted.



Last year my vertical watermelon had zero problems. This year my seedlings were repeatedly ravaged by some pest and I am lucky they didn't kill the honeydew and mature black mulberry. Mesh was the only option I could think of

 

[AshleyMammal]

apologies, I can’t quite follow, you said it’s currently 4-trunks, 2 white and 2 black. I think a fused trunk is what you’re after, are they fused already? - they look mighty far apart to be fused already?

In spring I’d bare root, get them as close as possible and tourniquet (or whatever your chosen method) so they fuse into a multi-trunk clump. Then it’s at least 3 years of growing without pruning until all trunks are fused and a decent thickness.

Once all trunks are the thickness you want for your final design, then is the time to chop them back short - bear in mind they will probably be over 5ft in height by this point!

 

[squarel]

apologies, I can’t quite follow, you said it’s currently 4-trunks, 2 white and 2 black.

You're right; I described a mixture of my goal and actual status. Due to some accidents I have three black and only one younger white. They are not close to fusing yet.

It is great to know that I they still be flexible when big. I have a few years to sort it out!

 

[AshleyMammal]

Sorry for the miss-communication, the trunks won’t be flexible when big, the idea is to grow out the trunks until they fuse and you’ll get a big powerful base splitting off into 4 sub-trunks, you then chop those 4 trunks back very hard to grow taper into them